Mike,
Having read Keats's letters and found nothing in those addressed to Bailey to suggest a Proustian theme, I took Humbert's assertion to mean that his article had intentionally been in jest. HH notes without disappointment that the article provoked chuckles from the few scholars who read it. I think VN was prone to enjoying this sort of humor. Possibly something of the sort was among the minute idea seeds out of which grew the masterpiece Pale Fire.
Andrew Brown
----------
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum on behalf of Donald B. Johnson
Reply To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:48 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Spam: Query: Lolita and Keats-Bailey correspondence?
Dear List,
A Lolita question: Humbert notes (p. 16 in the Vintage edition) that he
wrote an article about "The Proustian theme in a letter from Keats to
Benjamin Bailey." I assume that the letter has something to do with memory,
but I'm having a hard time finding any passages in Keats's letters to Bailey
that directly deal with memory. Has anyone figured out the specific Keats
passage that H.H. might be referring to?
Thanks,
Mike Donohue
----- End forwarded message -----