Laurence Hochard ( to JM's " Is it only an impression of mine, or did Nabokov in fact reply to some of Alfred Appel's questions with an affectionate kind of mockery? In his fiction this happened, in a more cruel vein, with Mr. Goodman, Sebastian Knight's secretary") - "This is only an aside but I don't think it fair to compare Alfred Appel and Mr Goodman. this character stands for everything V., Sebastian Knight and VN find despicable: he is described as an inept critic, envious and self interested. It's not an affectionate kind of mockery even in a more cruel vein , but an all-out attack against a certain kind of literary criticism. "