Subject
The Kalmyk take on VN's "Defense"
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My copy of "The New Yorker" gets to Santa Barbara only slightly earlier
than to its Kalmyk subscribers on the east side of the Caspian Sea. In
today's copy (April 24), there is an article entitled "Planet Kirsan" by
Michael Spector who often writes about chess. His charming essay paints
a bleak portrait of Kalmykia, the only Buddhist nation in Europe. The
Head of the Republic is Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, who is also the
president of the world chess organization FIDE. Spector's tour includes
a visit to the palatial "Chess City", apparently one of the
architectural marvels of the capital. His guide is, in effect, Kirsan's
chess minister. Noting that the journalist is reading Nabokov's "The
Defense," the official offers his critique: "That is the worst book
about chess you can read." When Spector replies "that many think it's
the best book about chess you can read." The "minister" replies "It
promotes the idea that chess is weird and that people who play it are
crazy."
Don Johnson
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
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than to its Kalmyk subscribers on the east side of the Caspian Sea. In
today's copy (April 24), there is an article entitled "Planet Kirsan" by
Michael Spector who often writes about chess. His charming essay paints
a bleak portrait of Kalmykia, the only Buddhist nation in Europe. The
Head of the Republic is Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, who is also the
president of the world chess organization FIDE. Spector's tour includes
a visit to the palatial "Chess City", apparently one of the
architectural marvels of the capital. His guide is, in effect, Kirsan's
chess minister. Noting that the journalist is reading Nabokov's "The
Defense," the official offers his critique: "That is the worst book
about chess you can read." When Spector replies "that many think it's
the best book about chess you can read." The "minister" replies "It
promotes the idea that chess is weird and that people who play it are
crazy."
Don Johnson
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