Dear Mikhail,

        I actually very much doubt there was a certain person -- rather
than a type -- who served as a model. In all my research on VN and Pnin in
particular, I have not found any lead that could be helpful to you. Galya


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Galya Diment, Professor & Chair,
                Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Washington, Box 353580,
                Seattle, WA 98195-3580
Phone: 206-543-7344/206-543-6848;
                Fax: 206-543-6009/206-522-1959
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 10:31:52 -0700
From: D. Barton Johnson 
Reply-To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum 
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Query re PNIN's lidia vinogradov

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mikhail Avrekh" 
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" 
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 10:20 AM
Subject: lidia vinogradov


>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (13
lines) ------------------
> In Pnin, Chapter 5, there is a mention of "Lidia Vinogradov, the
> well-known feminist and social worker", with whom her niece, Varvara
> Bolotov (the wife of the "seedy philosopher" Bolotov) escaped from Russia
> to Western Europe. This is on or around p.120 in the Vintage edition.
>
> Could someone who is familiar with the history of Russian feminism perhaps
> offer an educated guess as to who might be the prototype for "the
> well-known feminist" ? Expectedly enough, a cursory search on the web did
> not turn up any names that sound (to me) anything like Lidia Vinogradov.
>
> M.
>
>