Subject
DN on VN, SF-G, Prejudice & Literature
Date
Body
Editors Note. Dmitri Nabokov (who sees some of NABOKV-'Ls postings
thanks to Sandy Klein) has sent NABOKV-L a long communique dealing with a
variety of recent list topics and other matters. I shall be relaying
these, in most cases, in conjunction with new messages that touch upon the
relevant topics. As editor, I have in some cases added background
clarification in brackets. Such insertions are signed with the initials
DBJ. Below is the first.
------------------------------------------------------
Dmitri Nabokov to NABOKV-L March 17, 1997:
Regarding Fitzgerald, things are not as clear in my recollection (as is
my recollection of father's life-long liking for Melville - DBJ).
Professor M.'s assertion not withstanding, I told Matt Bruccoli, whom I
had the honor of assisting with certain details of his excellent companion
to TENDER IS THE NIGHT, that I recalled VN preferred GATSBY to TITN, but
was not 100% sure. I AM sure that my mother liked and recommended I read
GATSBY. I do not agree that father would have rejected a book out of hand
because of an antisemitic character or comment or the implications of
Gatsbys original name having been Gatz. That would disqualify many of the
better writers of the distant and recent past. I dont think the foibles
of his homosexual characters and the fun he sometimes pokes at them belong
anywhere near the holocaust category, that of Lothrop Stoddards somewhat
less deadly 1927 work THE RISING TIDE OF COLOR AGAINST WHITE WORLD
SUPREMACY, or KKK declarations that it's all a matter of difference, not
inferiority. But I see I'm getting not only off the subject, but ner some
pretty thorny bushes, and I wouldn't want a favorite girlfriend, a bright
and lovely Negress (a term she likes) to misunderstand a nuance and bobbit
me. As for VN, he had a sense of justice, a homosexual brother, and not
one but two homosexual uncles. Among the writers he admired there were
plenty of homosexuals, from Proust to Edmund White. He had a number of
homosexual friends. I also know he would have been less than happy had his
son inherited those genes. And he would have scoffed, as I do, at the
censored, mincing steps imposed by what has come to be known as PC.
Incidentally, more questions regarding the roots of predjudice and its
relevance to literature are raised, if not always convincingly answered,
in Alexander Stars review, in the Feb. 3 NEW YORKER, of a recent book by
Walter Michaels.
thanks to Sandy Klein) has sent NABOKV-L a long communique dealing with a
variety of recent list topics and other matters. I shall be relaying
these, in most cases, in conjunction with new messages that touch upon the
relevant topics. As editor, I have in some cases added background
clarification in brackets. Such insertions are signed with the initials
DBJ. Below is the first.
------------------------------------------------------
Dmitri Nabokov to NABOKV-L March 17, 1997:
Regarding Fitzgerald, things are not as clear in my recollection (as is
my recollection of father's life-long liking for Melville - DBJ).
Professor M.'s assertion not withstanding, I told Matt Bruccoli, whom I
had the honor of assisting with certain details of his excellent companion
to TENDER IS THE NIGHT, that I recalled VN preferred GATSBY to TITN, but
was not 100% sure. I AM sure that my mother liked and recommended I read
GATSBY. I do not agree that father would have rejected a book out of hand
because of an antisemitic character or comment or the implications of
Gatsbys original name having been Gatz. That would disqualify many of the
better writers of the distant and recent past. I dont think the foibles
of his homosexual characters and the fun he sometimes pokes at them belong
anywhere near the holocaust category, that of Lothrop Stoddards somewhat
less deadly 1927 work THE RISING TIDE OF COLOR AGAINST WHITE WORLD
SUPREMACY, or KKK declarations that it's all a matter of difference, not
inferiority. But I see I'm getting not only off the subject, but ner some
pretty thorny bushes, and I wouldn't want a favorite girlfriend, a bright
and lovely Negress (a term she likes) to misunderstand a nuance and bobbit
me. As for VN, he had a sense of justice, a homosexual brother, and not
one but two homosexual uncles. Among the writers he admired there were
plenty of homosexuals, from Proust to Edmund White. He had a number of
homosexual friends. I also know he would have been less than happy had his
son inherited those genes. And he would have scoffed, as I do, at the
censored, mincing steps imposed by what has come to be known as PC.
Incidentally, more questions regarding the roots of predjudice and its
relevance to literature are raised, if not always convincingly answered,
in Alexander Stars review, in the Feb. 3 NEW YORKER, of a recent book by
Walter Michaels.