I came upon this article on a very good, Russian only, chess site: http://www.chesspro.ru/column/odessky2.shtml. In this somewhat non-typical chess publication, chess player and journalist, Ilya Odessky, ponders where, in written word, mystification ends and deception begins, or the relation between author and reality. While a t it, surprisingly (or not so) author quotes VN three times (if I am not wrong to conclude that second epigraph is by Nabokov also). The article itself is called ‘Daje ne lzhets’ (‘Even not liar) from one of two quotes by Iosif Brodsky (quite fitting also; first of these quotes is Brodsky’s brush-off of VN as a poet). I enjoyed the article and thought some of you may as well.

George Shimanovich

P.S. Sometimes I wish that Nabokov-L could keep high Nabokov studies standard on the par with ChessPro, so to speak. Like, deepening our understanding of themes touched by the above (non-literary) article without bringing them to least common denominator of street level (like that of recent ‘contributor’ from Sydney).