Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014929, Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:32:17 -0300

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Re: JM: from W.Miale re Waugh to CHW & MK: addendum
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CHW addendum to W.Miale re Waugh: Since the Waugh interview was, to the best of my recollection, live, and since Waugh died in 1966, it would most probably have been between 1964-1966. I was not in Britain 1962-1964, and not watching much tv before 1962, although some time between 1958-1962 is possible.
Mary: Stannard mentions this incident briefly in the second volume of his Waugh biography (EW: The Later Years, 1939-1966) on p. 477: Joyce, he said, was plainly lunatic." This interview was held I believe the year before Waugh died.
JM: Following exchanges like these is a privilege!
After I puzzled over why Dmitri thought I'd linked the "O" 's incorrectly in VN's wonderful "Mademoiselle O" chapter I realized that, perhaps, Father Nabokov was being mischievous when he altered his reminiscent ages: at the time he wrote it he was either 44 or 45. When he reviewd it for publication in SM he was 60 or 61.
Not only Shade's age is once incorrectly rendered by Kinbote as 60 or 61 [ CK's birthday is July 5, 1914 whereas Shade's is July 5, 1898 ( not 1899!)] but Kinbote's 45 years might just hint at VN's age when he wrote "Mademoiselle O"... Unfortunately I usually get lost in my calculations and I may be entirely mistaken. And yet, in addition to this link with Pale Fire, we also encounter Shade wondering about the "hereafter" to consider which of the wives would be a widower's lawful companion in Paradise, and similar quandaries...
Once I read an anthology about the best American short-stories of the XXth century ( arranged by Joyce Carol Oates) where she included the opening chapter of "Speak Memory". If "Mademoiselle O" should be chosen for another anthology, what would be its "rightful" age, the time it was originally written or the year it was reviewed and corrected by VN?

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