Ingibjorg Elsa
Bjornsdottir:Do any of you recall whether Nabokov let any of his
characters anytime listen to music or even like music in any of his his
fiction? Is there a complete consistency also in his works of intense
dislike for music?
Julian Connolly: A brief
discussion of some of these issues may be found in the following article:
Julian Connolly, “The Quest for a Natural Melody in the Fiction of Vladimir
Nabokov,” in Nabokov at the Limits: Redrawing Critical Boundaries, ed.
Lisa Zunshine (New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1999):
69–85
Vladimir Mylnikov: a short story
"Muzyka"
JM: Lolita was fond of
capering and dancing about to music: perhaps worth checking into?
I remember, from "King Queen Knave," an
assortment of links to Puccini's opera "La Bohème." In ADA, "La
Boheme" is indirectly mentioned again,
through "Colline" (Dmitri's role for his operatic debut in
Milan). There's Richard Wagner
in "The Return of
Chorb," probably "Tannhauser."
As DN wrote in his 1995 preface to The
Stories of Vladimir Nabokov: "But what is stranger, music, for which he never professed a special
love, often figures prominently in his writing ("Sounds," "Bachmann," "Music,"
"The Assistant Producer")."