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Nina Khruscheva on Nabokov
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[EDNOTE. D. Barton Johnson draws our attention to an article, "Not to Celebrate Nabokov is a Tragedy," which Nina Khrushcheva published in the Financial Times yesterday. Khrushcheva's book, Visiting Nabokov, is forthcoming from Yale University Press. --SES]
The article concludes:
If Russia ever wants to get out of its Dostoevsky-defined culture of suffering, it may need to put on hold its tragic masterpieces, learning instead from say, Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian émigré American writer who a half-century ago rewrote an unhappy Russian character into an efficient pragmatic individual of the future. Disheartened by the world's imperfection, Dostoevsky's Idiot, Pasternak's Zhivago and Bulgakov's Master should give way to Nabokov's Ada (1969) and Pnin (1957) - modern role models who take responsibility for their individual lives regardless of how flawed humanity or the state may be.
I love Russian literature. I am against trivialising Nabokov. But if culture continues to turn issues into movies, we are better off televising his novels than badly imitating American thrillers or remaking Russia's painful history into "soothing" television dramas.
Furthermore, politics here could learn from culture as Nabokov provides a better road map for the strength and respect Vladimir Putin so craves nowadays: Nabokov's was a model of modern, international success. For he kept his Russian soul, without having to go backwards for it.
Here is the link to the entire article:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f8a4074c-cf40-11da-925d-0000779e2340.html
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
The article concludes:
If Russia ever wants to get out of its Dostoevsky-defined culture of suffering, it may need to put on hold its tragic masterpieces, learning instead from say, Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian émigré American writer who a half-century ago rewrote an unhappy Russian character into an efficient pragmatic individual of the future. Disheartened by the world's imperfection, Dostoevsky's Idiot, Pasternak's Zhivago and Bulgakov's Master should give way to Nabokov's Ada (1969) and Pnin (1957) - modern role models who take responsibility for their individual lives regardless of how flawed humanity or the state may be.
I love Russian literature. I am against trivialising Nabokov. But if culture continues to turn issues into movies, we are better off televising his novels than badly imitating American thrillers or remaking Russia's painful history into "soothing" television dramas.
Furthermore, politics here could learn from culture as Nabokov provides a better road map for the strength and respect Vladimir Putin so craves nowadays: Nabokov's was a model of modern, international success. For he kept his Russian soul, without having to go backwards for it.
Here is the link to the entire article:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f8a4074c-cf40-11da-925d-0000779e2340.html
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm