----- Original Message -----
From: Dmitri
Nabokov
Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 9:14 AM
Subject: DN's reply to V.Mylnikov re article in
DOMOVOY
Dear
Volodya,
Thanks for
noticing and posting those chronological errors. Alas, that is the least
of it. Some months ago the very kind and courteous Yana and Yuri
Zubtsov of Domovoy approached me for
an interview through my cousin
Michael Massalky. We agreed that, before they came to
Montreux, they would submit a small number of questions. Setting
other important matters aside, I promptly and attentively replied.
They said they were very happy with my answers. After a long and very
agreeable chat in Montreux, they sent me the proofs of their piece from
Russia. I was disappointed to find that, amid many valid or well-meant
items, the things I had written and said were often inaccurately
reported, and abundantly laced with extraneous and
often incorrect information. Yuri was terribly sorry, and only then
explained that the issue had to go to press immediately, and their article had
largely been prepared in advance before their departure for Montreux, and
on the way there, on the basis of "research" done beforehand. Apparently the
visit to DN was but prestigious icing on a hasty cake from a
grab-bag of ingredients. A few last-minute changes eliminated some of the
worst blunders but left many inaccuracies. I have maintained friendly
relations with Yana and Yuri, because they were truly nice and truly
apologetic. But some axioms persist: As one learns in any intelligence
school, one must verify and weigh his sources. No matter how nice,
journalists cannot be fully trusted, unless one charges them an arm and a
leg for the interview, and demands approval of every word in advance.
"Research," in the journalistic context, is, predominantly a dirty word.
Case in point: the Domovoy article was full of misinformation
based on the indiscriminate consultation of materials that happened to
be about the Nabokovs. I shall give neither examples nor names, since
disagreement and criticism seem invariably to be
interpreted as ad hominem aggression, with homo,
contrary to the directives of correctspeak, encompassing
mulier. I would not mind so much, if all this spurious stuff did not
embed itself ever deeper, every time it is dignified by
printed or online publication, in the canon of
Nabokoviana.
With cordial
regards,
DN