Thank you, Jansy.  There is actually a book - a wonderful book - that discusses 20th century Russian culture in the context of politics in the Russian empire and the Soviet Union. The author of The Magical Chorus, a History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn (Knopf, 2008), Solomon Volkov, believes that Nabokov suffered from Nobel Prize envy, and that that explains the viciousness of his attitude to both  Mr Turnip and Dr Swissair (I have to admit that that is very funny). Lumbago might also refer to the place where he worked so hard in Africa (Lambarene in Gabon) to bring medicine* to the Africans who travelled from hundreds of miles to be treated for various illnesses, including malaria, yaws and leprosy - you know what that means. . 

Even aside from this insight into the Nabokovian psyche, Volkov's book makes fabulous reading for anyone interested in Russian literature, drama, film, dance or music. Volkov was unfortunately nearly assasinated (not literally, of course) by his unfortunate run-in with Richard Taruskin. The argued over the legitimacy of a book of memoirs ostensibly by Shostakovich, which Taruskin believes to be fraudulent. I'm glad that Volkov survived the attack by the famous musicologist. They may also have disagreed about the possibility (likely, according to the New Grove Dictionary of Music) that Tschaikovsky committed suicide shortly before he was to have appeared in a private court (Tsch. had been accused of having an affair with the nephew of a nobleman).

Carolyn