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Fw: New Story on Plight of St. Petersburg Nabokov Museum
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Date
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EDNOTE. Contributions to the St. Petersburg Nabokov Museum are
tax-deductible for U.S. citizens. Information on contributions available at
friendsofnabokov@sbcglobal.net. If you would like to contribute, you can
send your donation to:
Friends of Nabokov, Inc.
P.O. Box 41146
San Jose, CA 95160
-----------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Julian W. Connolly" <jwc4w@virginia.edu>
.
>
> http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/7969934.htm
>
> Posted on Tue, Feb. 17, 2004
>
> Collected artifacts of author Nabokov could go homeless
>
> The Russian museum that honors novelist Vladimir Nabokov is behind in rent
> and virtually bankrupt, in need of a major benefactor.
>
> BY MARK McDONALD
>
> Knight Ridder News Service
>
>
> ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- They come like pilgrims, wide-eyed and reverent,
> clutching their copies of Lolita or Pale Fire, sniffing the stale air in
> the elegant old rooms off Bolshaya Morskaya Street, sniffing as if they're
> trying to catch the scent of the legendary novelist Vladimir Nabokov.
>
> But the Nabokov faithful -- along with the great man's Scrabble board, his
> pencil stubs and butterfly-hunting jacket -- are facing eviction. The
> private Nabokov Museum hasn't paid any rent for the past five years, and
> the city, which owns the building, is demanding $23,000.
>
> Appeals to the governor for a stay of execution have gone unanswered, and
a
> court hearing has been scheduled for March 1.
>
> ''The people who set up the museum weren't legal experts and they made
some
> mistakes,'' said museum curator Elena Kuznetsova. ``But we're not like the
> other museums in the city. The government gives us no assistance.''
>
> ''We're still hoping for a benefactor to save us,'' Director Tatiana
> Ponomareva said.
>
> HONORING THE GREATS
>
> One longtime benefactor, Terry Myers, an unwealthy technical editor at
> Pratt & Whitney Aerospace in San Jose, Calif., has promised $10,000 of his
> own money.
>
> Myers, whose fascination with Nabokov's works began as a teenager, has
> already donated some of the museum's best items, including a number of
> first editions.
>
> ''Not to have a permanent monument recognizing Nabokov's genius will
> reflect poorly on the city government,'' Myers said. ``By honoring him,
the
> city would be honoring all the great Russian émigré writers, artists,
> musicians and scholars who were forced to die abroad in obscurity because
> of Soviet repression and neglect.''
>
> The museum, which subsists mainly on the sale of 75-cent admission
tickets,
> is effectively bankrupt. There's certainly no money to expand the
> first-floor exhibits to the upper floors of the house, which are occupied
> by The Nevsky Times newspaper. Nabokov's third-floor bedroom is now the
> advertising department, and the editors keep their dishes and teacups in
> the family's old wall safe.
>
> The museum doesn't even have enough money for security guards and decent
> display cases. Not that there's much to steal: the premium items --
> including Nabokov's field jacket and Myers' first editions -- are locked
> away in storage.
>
> BORN IN THE MANSION
>
> Nabokov was born in the three-story mansion in 1899. He wrote his first
> book there at age 17, a collection of dewy love poems that his family paid
> to have published. The poems were written in English, which was young
> Vladimir's first language, thanks to his English governesses and tutors.
>
> The Nabokovs were fabulously wealthy -- one grandfather owned Siberian
gold
> mines and another was the minister of justice.
>
> They had 50 servants in the house, an elevator and one of St. Petersburg's
> first telephones. They also had three cars, including a Rolls-Royce. In
> 1915, not even the czar had a Rolls.
>
> The family fled Russia in 1917, just ahead of the Bolshevik Revolution,
and
> Vladimir later moved to England, Berlin and Paris. As World War II was
> breaking out, he and his wife Vera went to the United States, where he
took
> up a series of teaching positions at Stanford, Wellesley and Cornell.
>
> 'LOLITA' CAUSED SENSATION
>
> He published Lolita in the United States in 1958. The story of a
middle-age
> man's erotic obsession with his 12-year-old stepdaughter, the book caused
a
> sensation. The notoriety of the novel would overshadow Nabokov's other
> works, but it also earned him wealth, international attention and a wider
> audience.
>
> In 1961, the Nabokovs moved to Montreux, Switzerland, to be closer to
their
> son, Dmitri, an opera student in Geneva. From a suite in the Palace Hotel,
> Nabokov wrote two of his most acclaimed novels -- Pale Fire and Ada, which
> he considered his best work.
>
> He never returned to Russia and died in Switzerland in 1977, with his
books
> still banned in his homeland and with the fall of communism still more
than
> a decade away.
>
> IRONIC USE FOR HOME
>
> Over the years, his original home was used as a morgue and the
headquarters
> of the municipal laundry. At one point, it also housed the Soviet
> censorship committee that banned Nabokov's works.
>
> Nabokov's younger sister, Olga, visited the family home in 1948, and when
> she entered the foyer, a young communist guard asked her what she wanted.
>
> ''I used to live in all these rooms,'' Olga said.
>
> ''Well, mother,'' the guard replied, ``it's a different time now. Go
home.''
>
>
tax-deductible for U.S. citizens. Information on contributions available at
friendsofnabokov@sbcglobal.net. If you would like to contribute, you can
send your donation to:
Friends of Nabokov, Inc.
P.O. Box 41146
San Jose, CA 95160
-----------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Julian W. Connolly" <jwc4w@virginia.edu>
.
>
> http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/7969934.htm
>
> Posted on Tue, Feb. 17, 2004
>
> Collected artifacts of author Nabokov could go homeless
>
> The Russian museum that honors novelist Vladimir Nabokov is behind in rent
> and virtually bankrupt, in need of a major benefactor.
>
> BY MARK McDONALD
>
> Knight Ridder News Service
>
>
> ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- They come like pilgrims, wide-eyed and reverent,
> clutching their copies of Lolita or Pale Fire, sniffing the stale air in
> the elegant old rooms off Bolshaya Morskaya Street, sniffing as if they're
> trying to catch the scent of the legendary novelist Vladimir Nabokov.
>
> But the Nabokov faithful -- along with the great man's Scrabble board, his
> pencil stubs and butterfly-hunting jacket -- are facing eviction. The
> private Nabokov Museum hasn't paid any rent for the past five years, and
> the city, which owns the building, is demanding $23,000.
>
> Appeals to the governor for a stay of execution have gone unanswered, and
a
> court hearing has been scheduled for March 1.
>
> ''The people who set up the museum weren't legal experts and they made
some
> mistakes,'' said museum curator Elena Kuznetsova. ``But we're not like the
> other museums in the city. The government gives us no assistance.''
>
> ''We're still hoping for a benefactor to save us,'' Director Tatiana
> Ponomareva said.
>
> HONORING THE GREATS
>
> One longtime benefactor, Terry Myers, an unwealthy technical editor at
> Pratt & Whitney Aerospace in San Jose, Calif., has promised $10,000 of his
> own money.
>
> Myers, whose fascination with Nabokov's works began as a teenager, has
> already donated some of the museum's best items, including a number of
> first editions.
>
> ''Not to have a permanent monument recognizing Nabokov's genius will
> reflect poorly on the city government,'' Myers said. ``By honoring him,
the
> city would be honoring all the great Russian émigré writers, artists,
> musicians and scholars who were forced to die abroad in obscurity because
> of Soviet repression and neglect.''
>
> The museum, which subsists mainly on the sale of 75-cent admission
tickets,
> is effectively bankrupt. There's certainly no money to expand the
> first-floor exhibits to the upper floors of the house, which are occupied
> by The Nevsky Times newspaper. Nabokov's third-floor bedroom is now the
> advertising department, and the editors keep their dishes and teacups in
> the family's old wall safe.
>
> The museum doesn't even have enough money for security guards and decent
> display cases. Not that there's much to steal: the premium items --
> including Nabokov's field jacket and Myers' first editions -- are locked
> away in storage.
>
> BORN IN THE MANSION
>
> Nabokov was born in the three-story mansion in 1899. He wrote his first
> book there at age 17, a collection of dewy love poems that his family paid
> to have published. The poems were written in English, which was young
> Vladimir's first language, thanks to his English governesses and tutors.
>
> The Nabokovs were fabulously wealthy -- one grandfather owned Siberian
gold
> mines and another was the minister of justice.
>
> They had 50 servants in the house, an elevator and one of St. Petersburg's
> first telephones. They also had three cars, including a Rolls-Royce. In
> 1915, not even the czar had a Rolls.
>
> The family fled Russia in 1917, just ahead of the Bolshevik Revolution,
and
> Vladimir later moved to England, Berlin and Paris. As World War II was
> breaking out, he and his wife Vera went to the United States, where he
took
> up a series of teaching positions at Stanford, Wellesley and Cornell.
>
> 'LOLITA' CAUSED SENSATION
>
> He published Lolita in the United States in 1958. The story of a
middle-age
> man's erotic obsession with his 12-year-old stepdaughter, the book caused
a
> sensation. The notoriety of the novel would overshadow Nabokov's other
> works, but it also earned him wealth, international attention and a wider
> audience.
>
> In 1961, the Nabokovs moved to Montreux, Switzerland, to be closer to
their
> son, Dmitri, an opera student in Geneva. From a suite in the Palace Hotel,
> Nabokov wrote two of his most acclaimed novels -- Pale Fire and Ada, which
> he considered his best work.
>
> He never returned to Russia and died in Switzerland in 1977, with his
books
> still banned in his homeland and with the fall of communism still more
than
> a decade away.
>
> IRONIC USE FOR HOME
>
> Over the years, his original home was used as a morgue and the
headquarters
> of the municipal laundry. At one point, it also housed the Soviet
> censorship committee that banned Nabokov's works.
>
> Nabokov's younger sister, Olga, visited the family home in 1948, and when
> she entered the foyer, a young communist guard asked her what she wanted.
>
> ''I used to live in all these rooms,'' Olga said.
>
> ''Well, mother,'' the guard replied, ``it's a different time now. Go
home.''
>
>