EDNOTE: Nabokovians world-wide should be
grateful to Jeff Edmunds, a.k.a. "The Wizard of ZEMBLA," who has
created and sustained a remarkable Nabokov website under the auspices of the
International Vladimir Nabokov Society. We also thank Penn State
University Libraries for their generosity and foresight in supporting
the effort. Your support of ZEMBLA and all other activities of the Society are
greatly appreciated.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, November 01, 2002 8:00 AM
Subject: Zemblan news
From Jeff Edmunds <jhe@psulias.psu.edu>:
On December 1st, 2002, ZEMBLA will turn 7. My thanks
to Don Johnson, esteemed and tireless editor of NABOKV-L, for helping get it off
the ground, and to the Nabokov Society, especially the Board of Directors, for
support. Thanks are due also to the generous contributors, among them the
world’s leading Nabokovians on several continents, for their willingness to make
their work freely available to the World Wide Web’s innumerable
users.
This year ZEMBLA officially went trilingual. Since Nabokov was at
home in three languages and literatures, Russian, English, and French, it seems
appropriate for ZEMBLA to at least make an effort to reflect, howsoever dimly,
this vast linguistic realm. The first contribution in French is the text of
Maurice Couturier’s talk on Lolita delivered at the Nabokov Museum in St.
Petersburg in the spring of 2001. Writers on Nabokov are invited to submit items
for publication, be they in English, French, or Russian. For the time being,
French texts are especially welcome to balance the already considerable weight
of English and Russian contributions.
Thanks to Steve Parker and the
Board of the Directors of the Nabokov Society, the Nabokov Program Fund,
established last year here at Penn State to finance the otherwise virtually
unfinanced venture, received a wonderful boost when a portion of the
subscription revenues of The Nabokovian was earmarked for the Fund. By
subscribing to The Nabokovian--essential reading for any serious student
or scholar of Nabokov--subscribers are now supporting not only the Society’s
work but ZEMBLA as well. (When ZEMBLA began in 1995, it was my hope that the
Nabokov Estate might provide some support. Unfortunately, this has not been
forthcoming.)
On a related note, donations to the Nabokov Program Fund
can now be made via credit card and international postal money orders (in US
funds) as well as by personal check. All contributions are tax deductible as
allowed by US tax law.
A Friends of ZEMBLA page, listing the names of
contributors to the Fund who agree to seeing their generosity publicly
acknowledged, will be posted soon. Members of the Nabokov Society who would like
their names listed should contact me directly (jhe@psulias.psu.edu). No one will be listed without explicit
permission.
The Web has grown in seven years, and technology has advanced
rapidly. ZEMBLA has access to a RealAudio server; I would like to propose to
teachers of Nabokov that recorded classroom lectures or papers delivered at
conferences (audio or audio/video) would be a welcome addition to the sound
files of Nabokov reading from his work that are currently available. Contact the
editor for more information. As always, other suggestions for additions or
changes are welcome.
Finally, to the hundreds of thousands of Nabokov
fans who have visited the site over the years: thank you, spasibo,
merci.
Jeff Edmunds