EDITOR'S NOTE. Yeh, I wondered too. Clive James is a very clever writer who,  at least in his early years had Nabokov references in his fiction. And, of course, one can translations on their merits as works in English. 
 
 
From: TA Colquhoun
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 1:59 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: VN's translation of EO

Clive James doesn't speak Russian. How on earth did he suddenly become some sort of authority on EO or anything translated from Russian...??
 
Alex Colquhoun