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Was Nabokov a Hebephile\Ephebophile?
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EDNote: for the record (see Mo Ibrahim's original post), Tatyana from Eugene
Onegin was not 13, but at least 18 at the time of her first acquaintance
with Eugene. It's also worth noting that in "A Nursery Tale" the term
"devochka" (little girl) occurs only in relation to the 14-year-old; one
other victim is called "devushka" (post-adolescent girl/young woman); and
the rest apparently are referred to as "zhenschina" (woman) or "dama"
(lady). -SB
Re: [NABOKV-L] Was Nabokov a Hebephile\Ephebophile?
From: Stadlen <stadlen@aol.com> <mailto:stadlen@aol.com>
"What I have always found disturbing about this is that Nabokov lied about
it, saying that he had to imagine someone utterly different from himself. I
do not mean that he acted upon his fantasies or desires - I simply don't
know - but he seems to have falsely stated that these were not even his own
desires, or even fantasies, except insofar as he fantasised them as desires
or fantasies of other men, his fantasised narrators. Such dishonesty, if
this is what it was, is difficult to respect, as it disrespects his readers.
He could have refused interviews, like Beckett. [ ]
Jansy Mello:
Dear Anthony Stadlen, I was never upset by what V.Nabokov said in his
interviews or in the fore/afterwords to his novels because, in my eyes, he
was always an "unreliable narrator," "unreliable interviewee" or "
unreliable commentator," because he never intended to write confessions or
to open his heart to the readers. Those who at times manage to divine some
of his erotic experiences, fantasies and motivations (VN himself knew about
this risk! He wrote in Gogol: "The crudest curriculum vitae crows and flaps
its wings in a style peculiar to the undersigner. I doubt whether you can
even give your telephone number without giving something of yourself." )
have no firm grounds to be sure about their finds and to disclose them, for
whatever reason, may become one form of disrespect. However, I'm always
thankful when a specific veil of "Nabokovian denial" is lifted, that is,
when some questions are raised about issues most VN admirers prefer to
forget as, for example, when the words "faunlet and nymphet" or Mo's
"hebephile and ephebophile" are brought together or wondering, like you,
about the historic relevance of VN's explanatory notes concerning his
private world.
Steve, I don't remember with precision if, in "A Nursery Tale" the
"devochka"(little girl) isn't the first one to be selected and also the last
one, an accident that will spoil Erwin's fantastic contract with the Devil,
and whose structure is itself revelatory about the author's "impossibles".
Over the years I have been trying to find a similar inspiration for a story
(the devil seducing someone in the guise of a small child and a bet) written
by the novelist Alberto Moravia but, until now, I was only half-heartedly
rereading some of his books, forgetful of the newly available google
resources. I think I found it now, on a superficial level at least, in "The
Devil Can't Save the World," in which "Satan metamorphoses himself into a
naughty little girl, then into a lustful woman overwhelmed with desire for a
scientist with whom she/he has made a Faustian pact." Erotic Tales, 1999, by
Alberto Moravia
<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Alberto+Moravi
a&search-alias=books&field-author=Alberto+Moravia&sort=relevancerank>
(Author), Tim Parks
<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&text=Tim+Parks&sear
ch-alias=books&field-author=Tim+Parks&sort=relevancerank> (Translator)
Search archive with Google:
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Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
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Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
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Onegin was not 13, but at least 18 at the time of her first acquaintance
with Eugene. It's also worth noting that in "A Nursery Tale" the term
"devochka" (little girl) occurs only in relation to the 14-year-old; one
other victim is called "devushka" (post-adolescent girl/young woman); and
the rest apparently are referred to as "zhenschina" (woman) or "dama"
(lady). -SB
Re: [NABOKV-L] Was Nabokov a Hebephile\Ephebophile?
From: Stadlen <stadlen@aol.com> <mailto:stadlen@aol.com>
"What I have always found disturbing about this is that Nabokov lied about
it, saying that he had to imagine someone utterly different from himself. I
do not mean that he acted upon his fantasies or desires - I simply don't
know - but he seems to have falsely stated that these were not even his own
desires, or even fantasies, except insofar as he fantasised them as desires
or fantasies of other men, his fantasised narrators. Such dishonesty, if
this is what it was, is difficult to respect, as it disrespects his readers.
He could have refused interviews, like Beckett. [ ]
Jansy Mello:
Dear Anthony Stadlen, I was never upset by what V.Nabokov said in his
interviews or in the fore/afterwords to his novels because, in my eyes, he
was always an "unreliable narrator," "unreliable interviewee" or "
unreliable commentator," because he never intended to write confessions or
to open his heart to the readers. Those who at times manage to divine some
of his erotic experiences, fantasies and motivations (VN himself knew about
this risk! He wrote in Gogol: "The crudest curriculum vitae crows and flaps
its wings in a style peculiar to the undersigner. I doubt whether you can
even give your telephone number without giving something of yourself." )
have no firm grounds to be sure about their finds and to disclose them, for
whatever reason, may become one form of disrespect. However, I'm always
thankful when a specific veil of "Nabokovian denial" is lifted, that is,
when some questions are raised about issues most VN admirers prefer to
forget as, for example, when the words "faunlet and nymphet" or Mo's
"hebephile and ephebophile" are brought together or wondering, like you,
about the historic relevance of VN's explanatory notes concerning his
private world.
Steve, I don't remember with precision if, in "A Nursery Tale" the
"devochka"(little girl) isn't the first one to be selected and also the last
one, an accident that will spoil Erwin's fantastic contract with the Devil,
and whose structure is itself revelatory about the author's "impossibles".
Over the years I have been trying to find a similar inspiration for a story
(the devil seducing someone in the guise of a small child and a bet) written
by the novelist Alberto Moravia but, until now, I was only half-heartedly
rereading some of his books, forgetful of the newly available google
resources. I think I found it now, on a superficial level at least, in "The
Devil Can't Save the World," in which "Satan metamorphoses himself into a
naughty little girl, then into a lustful woman overwhelmed with desire for a
scientist with whom she/he has made a Faustian pact." Erotic Tales, 1999, by
Alberto Moravia
<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Alberto+Moravi
a&search-alias=books&field-author=Alberto+Moravia&sort=relevancerank>
(Author), Tim Parks
<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&text=Tim+Parks&sear
ch-alias=books&field-author=Tim+Parks&sort=relevancerank> (Translator)
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L