Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007519, Sun, 2 Feb 2003 09:58:20 -0800

Subject
Nabokov on Chekhov via The Guardian
Date
Body
From: Sandy P. Klein <spklein52@hotmail.com>

Guardian Unlimited

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,885727,00.html

Letters

Saturday February 1, 2003
The Guardian

Glad to be grey

It is nonsense to assert, as Janet Malcolm does, that The Lady with the Little
Dog (not "Dog" or "Lapdog") is an exception in Chekhov's work where "no one dies
or has died" ("The kernel of truth", January 25). From a collection of his
stories at hand, I note that half share this trait ("The Kiss", "Gooseberries",
"Concerning Love", "A Case History"). The recurrence of grey details (the
"ashes" Malcolm says "infiltrate" the story) are the features of Chekhov's
language. As Vladimir Nabokov wrote: "his dove-grey worlds and words are in the
exact same tint of grey_ between that of an old fence and of a low cloud". The
allegedly "indistinct" characters are reflected in a particularity of trifles;
Anna's "delicate neck and fine grey eyes" and the drabness of Gurov's public
life are aspects of the mood as a whole, the greyness is a lack of contrast
between character and environment.

Matthew Riddell
London N8


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