Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0012245, Sat, 24 Dec 2005 14:33:22 -0800

Subject
Fwd: Re: RE: Jessie Lokrantz
Date
Body
----- Forwarded message from lokrantz@tds.net -----
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 09:54:28 -0500
From: Jessie Lokrantz <lokrantz@tds.net>
Reply-To: Jessie Lokrantz <lokrantz@tds.net>
Subject: Re: RE: Jessie Lokrantz
To: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>

Dear Mr. Johnson,
Please feel free to use our correspondence. I realize that there has been
some question about my name. I used my maiden name as a middle name whhile I
was in Sweden because the American Embassy asked me to. It was easier to
keep track of me that way, they said. When I went to St. Petersburg, as I
mentioned earlier, one Japanese gentleman came up, looked me in the face and
said,"But you are a woman?!" I assured him that I was and he promptly said
that he now had to readjust his thinking about me! I'm still not sure what
he meant by that. An Indian woman then joined in and said that she hated me
because her professor in India wouldn't let her write on Nabokov, saying
that it was a subject unfitting a lady! How the world has moveed on in the
past thirty years.
When I wrote the thesis my professor was a bit sceptical since he said that
I sat on two chairs -- linguistics and literature and he wasn't sure about
my approach. I was and still am impressed by the fact that Nab. wrote such
amazingly good English. I have been in the same situation as he, learning
and living in a new language, one that was not my native tongue and I know
the pitfalls that arise from this situation.
Yes, I would love to hear more from you. I am still in awe of the fact that
one of my "nukes" (nuclear sailors) found you for me on the web. I had no
idea that anyone still read my thesis.
Jessie Lokrantz
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <lokrantz@tds.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 1:30 PM
Subject: Fwd: RE: Jessie Lokrantz


> DEAR DR. LOKRANTZ. IS IT OK WITH YOU IF I SEND OUT OUR EXCANGE ON
> NABOKV-L, THE
> NABOKOV ELECTRONIC FORUM THAT I EDIT? BELOW IS WHAT I HAVE IN MIND. SHOULD
> YOU
> WISH TO INSERT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE DO SO.
>
> BEST HOLIDAY WISHES, DON
> ---------------------------------------------
>
>
> EDNOTE. One of the early dissertations on Nabokov was written by Jessie
> Thomas
> Lokrantz at Uppsala, Sweden in 1973: "The Underside of the Weave. Some
> Stylistic Devices used by Vladimir Nabokov". I think I reviewed the work
> in
> Rusian Literature Triquarterly soon after it appeare. In any case I find
> the
> copy on my shelf has a good many penciled notes in my handwriting. Dr.
> Lokrantz
> was and long remained something of a mystery figure in Nabokov circles.
> Even
> recently I have had queries as to whether Dr. Lokrantz was male or female
> since
> the name is gender-neutral. Should scholars citing her work refer to her
> as "he"
> or "she"? I recall pondering the matter when I wrote my review. The
> dissertation
> was unusual at the time since it was formal stylistic study. Dr. Lokrantz
> recently got in touch with me and I gratefully pass on the news.
>
> ----- Forwarded message from lokrantz@tds.net -----
> Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:49:00 -0500
> From: Jessie Lokrantz <lokrantz@tds.net>
> Reply-To: Jessie Lokrantz <lokrantz@tds.net>
> Subject: RE: Jessie Lokrantz
> To: "'Donald B. Johnson'" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
>
> Dear Mr. Johnson,
> Thank you for your reply to my much belated e-mail. I'm rather new to many
> of the wonders on Internet and just recently found that I was listed on
> the
> web! I am now living in St.Marys [sic - we don't seem to know about
> apostrophes in this neck of the woods], GA and am an assoc. professor at
> Valdosta State University/Kings Bay Submarine Base Center (There is a
> picture of Nabok. when he came to the main campus of Valdosta when it was
> a
> girls school in his autobio., Speak Memory. I wrote my doctoral thesis on
> Nabokov while studying at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. My husband is
> (or was -- recently became an American citizen). I lived in Sweden for 42
> years. When my husband retired we moved to Georgia where I now work at VSU
> for some years now. I was invited to St. Petersburg, Russia to the second
> Nabokov symposium and spoke on Nabokov as an American writer, rather than
> Russian. It was a fun and interesting time. I had been in Leningrad in
> 1968
> when I first started writing my thesis. What a difference in the city!
> At present I am teaching at Valdosta/Kings Bay campus. My students are for
> the most part young sailors with a smattering of locals. It was one of the
> things that impressed the Russians the most -- that America had academic
> establishments on a Naval Base. They couldn't believe that our sailors
> were
> getting academic degrees.
> I see that I am getting warmed up and could go on forever. Please let me
> hear from you again soon and tell me something about your work. I would
> like
> to also have your land mail address as well as phone number. I am much
> more
> a hands on person and prefer phone calls to e-mails when possible.
> Thanks again for answering.
> Sincerely, Jessie Lokrantz
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Donald B. Johnson [mailto:chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 1:37 PM
> To: lokrantz@TDS.NET
> Subject: Fwd: Jessie Lokrantz
>
>
> ----- Forwarded message from chtodel@cox.net -----
> Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 09:53:01 -0800
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> Reply-To: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> Subject: Jessie Lokrantz
> To: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
>
> Dear Dr. Lokrantz,
> Many thanks for your reply. If memory serves (& I'm not sure it does,),
> I reviewed your pioneering 1973 _ Underside of the Weave: Some Stylistic
> Devices Used by Vladimir Nabokov__ in RUSSIAN LITERATURE TRIQUARTERLY.
> Your book has been cited now and then by several researchers and I
> occasionally get queries at NABOKV-L asking whether you should be referred
> to as "she" or "he" in publications. You have been a mystery figure in
> Nabokov studies for thirty-odd years.
> If you would like to write a paragraph or two on yourself and Nabokov's
> work, I would be pleased to run it on NABOKV-L.
>
> With best wishes for the holidays, Don Johnson
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
> To: <chtodel@cox.net>
> Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 8:57 PM
> Subject: Fwd: Re: query: Jessie Lokrantz
>
>
>>
>>
>> ----- Forwarded message from lokrantz@TDS.NET -----
>> Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:11:29 -0800
>> From: Jessie Lokrantz <lokrantz@TDS.NET>
>> Reply-To: Jessie Lokrantz <lokrantz@TDS.NET>
>> Subject: Re: query: Jessie Lokrantz
>> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU,>
>> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (13
>> lines) ------------------
>> To answer the questions:
>>
>> I am Jessie Lokrantz, and I currently reside in St Marys Georgia (USA).
>> I
>> am a woman and proud to be such :)
>>
>> You can e-mail me at Lokrantz@tds.net. I am sorry about such a long time
>> to reply, but I have just recently gotten a new computer and
>> started "surfing" the internet at high-speed. So I found and replied to
>> these questions as soon as I could.
>>
>> Thank you and looking forward to hearing back from you,
>>
>> Jessie Lokrantz Ph.D.
>>
>> ----- End forwarded message -----
>>
>>
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>

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