Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004920, Tue, 21 Mar 2000 16:30:22 -0800

Subject
Fw: Nabokov and Salinger
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-----Original Message-----
From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 11:58 AM
Subject: Nabokov and Salinger


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>From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
>
>In the early 1950s Salinger was as vehemently anti-Freudian and
>anti-shrink-culture (as obvious in his _Catcher in the Rye_) as was
>Nabokov. I am sure it did not escape Nabokov's notice. Salinger, who
>became famous and established as an American writer before Nabokov (_The
>Catcher in the Rye_ came out in 1951) can hardly be considered a Nabokov's
>"disciple." On the contrary, I actually do wonder whether it was not the
>other way around, and whether, in the early 1950s, the success of
>Salinger's rather audacious-for-that-time novel, which dealt with an
>emotionally complex teenager rebelling against the easy and comfortable
>rhythms and assumptions of the post-war American culture, did not suggest
>to Nabokov that the American public might have been getting ready for the
>likes of _Lolita_.
>
>Galya Diment
>
>