Sorry but this has been nagging away at me for a few days, shouldn't it be Dante
& Beatrice (Beatrice Portinari 1266-90 the inspiration for the Divina Commedia)
not Laura?

Unless he was two-timing her on the side!

Kind regards,

John

Dear John,

You're absolutely right - - of course I should have said Petrarch's Laura.  I made a jump and then forgot to draw the bridge. The link started with Nabokov's "Laura" and his peacocks, thence to Dante & his appearance as a peacock in a dream reported by Petrarch and finally to Petrarch's Laura. A circular argument, I admit, but it might be what VN had in mind. I suspected Dante had something to do with it because of the family link to Dante's friend and patron/saviour Can Grande. Alexey found the re-inforcing link to Eugene Onegin.

Anyway, Beatrice remains sacred, I assure you!

thanks for kind regards,
Carolyn