Dear Stephen,
One of the first responses to Lolita from
this side of the Iron Curtain:
"Lolita, or Stavrogin and
Beatrice" (1962; text in Russian: http://spintongues.msk.ru/lem.htm),
by the famous Polish sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem (1921-2007). I quickly scanned
the article. The author speaks more of Svidrigailov, a character in "Crime
and Punishment," than of Stavrogin, with whom he seems to confuse
Svidrigailov at one point.
I also remember Dolinin comparing Humbert to
Stavrogin in his lectures and using the case of Matryosha as an argument in
support of his theory that Lolita dies in the Elphinstone
hospital and what follows, the rest of the
story, happens only in Humbert's imagination. I don't know if
Dolinin published his material anywhere.
Alexey Sklyarenko
p. s. In my previous post, when speaking of the
name Yuri, I forgot to mention Baron Yuri Rausch von Traubenberg, Nabokov's
cousin and best friend. Also, the second of the
two "ors" in it should be "gold."