Subject
London Review of Books
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Date
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> NABOKV-L once again thanks Col. Rea:
> ---------
> > From: john.rea <john.rea@gateway.net>
> The current London Review of Books (21 June 2001) carries a review
> article by Robert Irwin "An Endless Progression of Whirlwinds." He
> discusses the book, _Tournament
> of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia_
> by Karl Meyer and Shareen Brysac; and also the book, _Tibet:
> The Great Game and Tsarist Russia_ by Tatiana Shaumian. The articles final
> paragraph includes the following:
>
> > They also mention, but only mention, the fact that Przhevalsky
> > furnished the model for the protagonist's father in Nabokov's
> > _The Gift_. It might have been worth lingering over this novel.
> > Although Nabokov never set foot in Central Asia, he had planned
> > before the outbreak of the Russion Revolution to go east on a
> > buttrerfllly-hunting expedition and, in the novel he subsequently
> > wrote in Berlin, he, more successfully than any other writer
> > evoked the history and romance of Central Asian exploration:
> >
> > just as I had heard in a Tibetan gorge the
> > interesting drum-like roar which had fright-
> > ened our first pilgrims, so in the desert during
> > the sandstorms I also saw and heard the same
> > as Marco Polo: 'the whisper of spirits calling
> > you aside' and the queer flicker of the air, an
> > endless progression of whirlwinds, caravans
> > and armies of phantoms coming to meet you,
> > thousands of spectral faces in their incorp-
> > oreal way pressing upon you, through you
> > and suddenly dispersed.
> >
> > John A. Rea
> ---------
> > From: john.rea <john.rea@gateway.net>
> The current London Review of Books (21 June 2001) carries a review
> article by Robert Irwin "An Endless Progression of Whirlwinds." He
> discusses the book, _Tournament
> of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia_
> by Karl Meyer and Shareen Brysac; and also the book, _Tibet:
> The Great Game and Tsarist Russia_ by Tatiana Shaumian. The articles final
> paragraph includes the following:
>
> > They also mention, but only mention, the fact that Przhevalsky
> > furnished the model for the protagonist's father in Nabokov's
> > _The Gift_. It might have been worth lingering over this novel.
> > Although Nabokov never set foot in Central Asia, he had planned
> > before the outbreak of the Russion Revolution to go east on a
> > buttrerfllly-hunting expedition and, in the novel he subsequently
> > wrote in Berlin, he, more successfully than any other writer
> > evoked the history and romance of Central Asian exploration:
> >
> > just as I had heard in a Tibetan gorge the
> > interesting drum-like roar which had fright-
> > ened our first pilgrims, so in the desert during
> > the sandstorms I also saw and heard the same
> > as Marco Polo: 'the whisper of spirits calling
> > you aside' and the queer flicker of the air, an
> > endless progression of whirlwinds, caravans
> > and armies of phantoms coming to meet you,
> > thousands of spectral faces in their incorp-
> > oreal way pressing upon you, through you
> > and suddenly dispersed.
> >
> > John A. Rea