After looking at the description of "Salzman" (bestseller with a handsome author on the back cover), I suspect the joke is on Bellow's "Herzog" (1964), which was a big "novel of ideas" in just the kind of bloated "philosophical" manner that VN so disliked. It was a big seller, won lots of prizes, and certainly would have had a picture of the dapper Bellow on the back cover. (Unlike the author of "Salzman," though, Bellow is not now completely forgotten.)

Mike Donohue


Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:15:17 +0100
From: irenaks@POCZTA.ONET.PL
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] ADA and the Siege of Leningrad
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU

I've always associated this with Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, perhaps wrongly.
 
Irena
----- Original Message -----
From: Dieter E. Zimmer
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] ADA and the Siege of Leningrad

No sir, 'Ada' does not contain 203000 words but only 174000, not according to my calculations but to my PC (I had to offer myself a digital copy to work on the German commentary).
 
This gives me occasion to ask the List a minuscule question: Would anybody have an idea what author and book the title 'Salzman' refers to, occurring five times (pp. 459, 476, 477, 486)?
 
Dieter E. Zimmer, Berlin
 
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