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Query: Nabokov &? Nikolai Berdayev?
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Arthur Glass" <goliard@worldnet.att.net>
To: "Nabokov" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 3:25 AM
Subject: Nikolai Berdayev
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (14
lines) ------------------
> What do we know about VN's relationship with the 20th century Russian
> philosopher Nikolai Berdayev? There is one mention of Berdayev in Boyd's
> __The Russian Years__ (p. 506); the philosopher wrote a letter of
> recommendation for VN when the latter was applying to teach at Yale in
1939.
>
> Berdayev was a presence in the debates among the Russian diaspora, and as
a
> passionate if not always orthodox Orthodox believer, he would have had,
one
> supposes, fundamental disagreements with Sirin. But both men were powerful
> swimmers in the intellectual currents of their time, in the exile
> communities as well as in European cultural trends in general. Both for
one
> thing, were influenced by the philosophy of Henri Bergson.
>
> I look forward to any illumination on this relationship.---Arthur Glass
>
>
EDITOR'S NOTE. Although it scarcely be called an "illumination" Boyd notes,
amusingly, that VN himself drafted the proposed letter of recommendation.
He knew Berdayev through Ilya Fondaminsky in Paris. Fondaminsky's apartment
was a major gathering center for Russian emigres and VN often stayed there
on visits to Paris. One wonders whether the letter ever got to Yale. If so,
could it still be lurking in some department file? There are several Russian
scholars expert in the milieu who might be able to speak to this.
From: "Arthur Glass" <goliard@worldnet.att.net>
To: "Nabokov" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 3:25 AM
Subject: Nikolai Berdayev
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (14
lines) ------------------
> What do we know about VN's relationship with the 20th century Russian
> philosopher Nikolai Berdayev? There is one mention of Berdayev in Boyd's
> __The Russian Years__ (p. 506); the philosopher wrote a letter of
> recommendation for VN when the latter was applying to teach at Yale in
1939.
>
> Berdayev was a presence in the debates among the Russian diaspora, and as
a
> passionate if not always orthodox Orthodox believer, he would have had,
one
> supposes, fundamental disagreements with Sirin. But both men were powerful
> swimmers in the intellectual currents of their time, in the exile
> communities as well as in European cultural trends in general. Both for
one
> thing, were influenced by the philosophy of Henri Bergson.
>
> I look forward to any illumination on this relationship.---Arthur Glass
>
>
EDITOR'S NOTE. Although it scarcely be called an "illumination" Boyd notes,
amusingly, that VN himself drafted the proposed letter of recommendation.
He knew Berdayev through Ilya Fondaminsky in Paris. Fondaminsky's apartment
was a major gathering center for Russian emigres and VN often stayed there
on visits to Paris. One wonders whether the letter ever got to Yale. If so,
could it still be lurking in some department file? There are several Russian
scholars expert in the milieu who might be able to speak to this.