Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005131, Thu, 1 Jun 2000 16:05:09 -0700

Subject
Re: Dostoevskij Parallels (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Susan Elizabeth Sweeney <ssweeney@holycross.edu>

The story of "Arthur" is actually Nabokov's 1939 novella, _Volshebnik_,
which was translated into English by Dmitri Nabokov and published as
_The Enchanter_ in 1986.

Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Associate Professor of English
Holy Cross College
ssweeney@holycross.edu


<<< galya@u.washington.edu 5/31 6:51p >>>

From: thompson <thompson@deltafarms.com>

There seem to be many parallel scenes, and themes between Nabokov and
Dostoevskij. For example, in Lolita, is it by chance that Rodian
Ramanovitch Raskolnikov and Humbert Humbert are translators?

Krotkaia, Dostoevskij's Gentle Creature is the template for Nabokov's
Arthur
who evolves into H.H. The character of Raskolnikov evolves from The
Double
into a more complex form in Crime and Punishment. Is this character
development parallel for a reason? Does a copy of Nabokov's story of
Arthur still exist?

Even Gene Rodenberry seems to have played with the character H.H. In a
Star
Trek episode the name changes from Humbert Humbert to Herbert Herbert,
but
each symbolizes (although I know Nabokov found this literary device
distasteful) adult dominance over children. "Herbert, Herbert." Have
other
TV shows or movies picked up on this theme?