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Fwd: Re: [Fwd: VN (mis?)quote] "soft music"
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EDNOTE. And for the definitive answer to the "soft music" quote....
----- Forwarded message from "Dieter E. Zimmer" <mail@d-e-zimmer.de> -----
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
The quote is correct. It is from the first page of the first interview
in "Strong Opinions" (p. 3 of the book): "My loathings are simple: stupidity,
oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense
known to man: writing and butterfly hunting." The interview was made on June
5, 1962, when Nabokov and his wife arrived in New York on the "Queen
Elizabeth" for the premiere of Kubrick's "Lolita" film. The interviewers were
four anonymous journalists, presumably from four different newspapers.
Nabokov's answers sound as if he had handed them questions as well as answers
in written form; the manuscript is at the Berg Collection. Excerpts were
published by "Newsweek", June 25, 1962, pp. 51-54.
In October 1964, Nabokov began to draw up a list of his "Favourite Hates"
(holograph at the Berg Collection). It includes 26 items; many of them were
used in various interviews. The foremost one is "Background music... inflicted
music of any kind." The complete list is to be published in the forthcoming
sequel volume to "Strong Opinions," to be published next spring by Rowohlt, as
volume 21 of Nabokov's collected works, in German.
Dieter E. Zimmer
Berlin, October 23, 2003 -- 8:45am
mail@d-e-zimmer.de
----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from "Dieter E. Zimmer" <mail@d-e-zimmer.de> -----
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
The quote is correct. It is from the first page of the first interview
in "Strong Opinions" (p. 3 of the book): "My loathings are simple: stupidity,
oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense
known to man: writing and butterfly hunting." The interview was made on June
5, 1962, when Nabokov and his wife arrived in New York on the "Queen
Elizabeth" for the premiere of Kubrick's "Lolita" film. The interviewers were
four anonymous journalists, presumably from four different newspapers.
Nabokov's answers sound as if he had handed them questions as well as answers
in written form; the manuscript is at the Berg Collection. Excerpts were
published by "Newsweek", June 25, 1962, pp. 51-54.
In October 1964, Nabokov began to draw up a list of his "Favourite Hates"
(holograph at the Berg Collection). It includes 26 items; many of them were
used in various interviews. The foremost one is "Background music... inflicted
music of any kind." The complete list is to be published in the forthcoming
sequel volume to "Strong Opinions," to be published next spring by Rowohlt, as
volume 21 of Nabokov's collected works, in German.
Dieter E. Zimmer
Berlin, October 23, 2003 -- 8:45am
mail@d-e-zimmer.de
----- End forwarded message -----