Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004666, Sat, 8 Jan 2000 10:54:26 -0800

Subject
VN Bibliography: O. Kaznina._Russkie v Anglii_ (M.:Nasledie, 1997)
Date
Body
Olga Kaznina's 413 page survey is subtitled "Russkaya emigratsiia v
kontekste russkogo-angliiskix literaturnyx sviazei v pervoi polovine XX
veka." The volume is a well-documented account of Russian writers and
journalists who spent time in England from 1900 on --with particular
emphasis on the twenties. The volume is of particular interest to
Nabokovians in that it devotes nearly 40 pages to Nabokov's English
connections, drawing not only on VN's autobiographical writings but on his
unpublished correspondence with his parents. Also included are treatments
of Nabokov's novels and stories with English settings. Although
occasionally overstepping the boundaries between fiction and biographical
fact, Kaznina is on the whole judicious in her use of the novels.

Apart from the material drawn from VN's correspondence there is not much
new material here but the Nabokov section provides an excellent compendium
of VN's British ties.

The volume is certainly essential for anyone working on Russian emigre
literary scene in England after the revolution.


D. Barton Johnson
Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies
Phelps Hall
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone and Fax: (805) 687-1825
Home Phone: (805) 682-4618