Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000081, Tue, 17 Aug 1993 19:43:33 -0700

Subject
MARY (Re Galya Diment's Response to Leona Toker) (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Text of forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 93 21:16 EST
From: JFOSTER@GMUVAX.bitnet
To: nabokv-l@ucsbvm
Subject: MARY (Re Galya Diment's Response to Leona Toker)


Subject: MARY (Re: Galya Diment's Response to Leona Toker)

Dear Galya,

I have three quick comments on your response to Leona Toker.

1. To me, Nabokov's treatment of the boyhood relation
between Krug and Paduk seems crucial for the points at issue
between you and Leona, and it would be interesting to hear
more about it from both of you.

2. On Yuri, if you follow Nabokov's comments about him in
the various versions of his autobiography, they vacillate
disconcertingly. In particular, the tribute in CONCLUSIVE
EVIDENCE (p. 139) seems much more problematic to my ears
than the one in SPEAK, MEMORY (p. 200).

3. On SPEAK, MEMORY not being relevant to the discussion,
how do you deal with the fact that Nabokov wrote the Swiss
governess chapter in the mid-30s, when he was still working
on THE GIFT? In fact, he even contends that he planned the
whole work at that time (SPEAK, MEMORY, pp. 10-11).

John Foster ["jfoster@gmuvax.gmu.edu"]