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Bunyn - копия

Nabokov, a masterful writer, is often perceived as cold, likened to sterile surgical instruments, with his writing reflecting his passions for chess and entomology. In a conversation with Bella Akhmadulina, he expressed regret about leaving Russia, contemplating how it might have changed his writing, despite previously claiming indifference towards his homeland. His monumental effort in translating 'Lolita' into Russian, along with his own footnotes, indicates a deeper connection to Russia than he publicly acknowledged.

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9 views1 page

Bunyn - копия

Nabokov, a masterful writer, is often perceived as cold, likened to sterile surgical instruments, with his writing reflecting his passions for chess and entomology. In a conversation with Bella Akhmadulina, he expressed regret about leaving Russia, contemplating how it might have changed his writing, despite previously claiming indifference towards his homeland. His monumental effort in translating 'Lolita' into Russian, along with his own footnotes, indicates a deeper connection to Russia than he publicly acknowledged.

Uploaded by

distortion504
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A brilliant master at whatever he tried, Nabokov strikes some readers as being too cold, like

shining sterilized surgical instruments lying on a stainless steel operating table. His works call to
mind the Hanging Garden of Semiramis, whose roots nourished themselves not from native soil,
but from the air. His highly developed avocations of chess and entomology are often perceptible
in his writing: he pins words as he would a butterfly and moves them as he would a chess piece,
calculating many moves ahead.

When Bella Akhmadulina visited Nabokov in Switzerland not long before his death, he told her:
“It’s a pity I didn’t stay in Russia, that I left...Nabokov’s wife shook her head and replied: “But
they would have surely rotted you away in the camps. Isn’t that right, Bella?” Suddenly Nabokov
shook his head. “Who knows, maybe I would have survived even. But then later I would have
become a totally different writer and, perhaps, a much better one...” For a long time Nabokov
had persistently repeated that he was not interested in what went on in Russia and did not care
whether his books would return to his homeland. But this assertion seems belied by the fact that
he performed the monumental work of translating Lolita into Russian. Now, Nabokov’s books
have returned to Russia. The translations here are Nabokov’s own, as are the footnotes, which
reveal much about their author.

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