Subject
Fwd: RE: Plaster and Hammer
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While we are on this note of the Russian revolution and plaster cubes and
hammers.
"Not long ago, on his nameday, Petya had visited the Soviet bookstore whose
presence blemishes one of Berlin's most charming streets. They sell not only
books there, but also various handmade bric-a-brac. Petya selected a hammer
adorned with poppies and emblazoned with an inscription typical for a
Bolshevik hammer. The clerk inquired if he would like something else. Petya
said, "Yes, I would," nodding at a small plaster bust of Mister Ulyanov. He
paid fifteen bust for bust and hammer, whereupon, without a word, right
there on the counter, he popped that bust with that hammer, and with such
force that Mister Ulyanov disintegrated." ["Russian Spoken Here" In: V.
Nabokov, Collected Stories, Penguin Books, 1995, p. 7] [For those who are
not familiar with Mr Ulyanov, there is Dmitri Nabokov's note: Ulyanov -
Lenin's real name.]
I also would like to draw Nabokovians' attention to a long interview with
Elena Sikorskaya (née Nabokova) in the monthly journal Kontinent (#123,
2005), accessible via Internet at
http://magazines.russ.ru/continent/2005/123/bob26.html.
Regards,
Sergey Karpukhin
>
hammers.
"Not long ago, on his nameday, Petya had visited the Soviet bookstore whose
presence blemishes one of Berlin's most charming streets. They sell not only
books there, but also various handmade bric-a-brac. Petya selected a hammer
adorned with poppies and emblazoned with an inscription typical for a
Bolshevik hammer. The clerk inquired if he would like something else. Petya
said, "Yes, I would," nodding at a small plaster bust of Mister Ulyanov. He
paid fifteen bust for bust and hammer, whereupon, without a word, right
there on the counter, he popped that bust with that hammer, and with such
force that Mister Ulyanov disintegrated." ["Russian Spoken Here" In: V.
Nabokov, Collected Stories, Penguin Books, 1995, p. 7] [For those who are
not familiar with Mr Ulyanov, there is Dmitri Nabokov's note: Ulyanov -
Lenin's real name.]
I also would like to draw Nabokovians' attention to a long interview with
Elena Sikorskaya (née Nabokova) in the monthly journal Kontinent (#123,
2005), accessible via Internet at
http://magazines.russ.ru/continent/2005/123/bob26.html.
Regards,
Sergey Karpukhin
>