I would prefer a less quick answer. Let's try to think it through a little more. It's hard for me to liken Nabokov to Mandelshtam - - who he looked down on apparently. They did go to the same gymnasium, I believe, the one to which Nabokov was driven by the family chauffeur. Anyway Mandelshtam's fate was rather complicated you know. 

I also don't see Nabokov as being like Babel in any way (I should think he would not have felt flattered by the comparison). Are you saying that Nabokov would have been incapable of bowing to authority? 

What I am saying is, did Nabokov have the right to criticize those who stayed behind? I am thinking for example of Pasternak. Did Nabokov forgive the murdered?

Carolyn