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Nabokov not jealous/DN in Ottawa Citizen
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From: Marianne <mxc52@psu.edu>
Copyright 2001 Southam Inc.
The Ottawa Citizen
February 25, 2001 Sunday FINAL EDITION
SECTION: THE CITIZEN'S WEEKLY: BOOKS, Pg. C14
LENGTH: 196 words
HEADLINE: Nabokov not jealous
BYLINE: Dmitri Nabokov
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
BODY:
In a piece titled "Updike: Still the languid genius" (Citizen's Weekly Reading,
Dec. 24, 2000) John Banville calls my father Vladimir Nabokov "corrosively
jealous" and says that he was "forced" to pay Updike "tribute as a stylist." I
usually ignore media drivel unless it is blatantly offensive or untrue. In this
case it is both. Jealous? Corrosively? Forced? By whom, of whom and of what,
for God's sake? VN was sure of his talent and optimistic about the future, even
at difficult moments. The fruits of his efforts substantiate his feelings. In
fact, during our last butterfly jaunt, on a Swiss peak, near the end of life,
he confirmed to me that he had achieved what he had always wished.
If he was sometimes harsh regarding those who did not meet his standard --
Dostoyevsky, Freud, Mahan come to mind -- it was surely not out of jealousy. He
dearly loved the greats (Shakespeare, Pushkin, Joyce, Flaubert, among others).
And I would judge that it is a refutation of any charge of jealousy, corrosive
or otherwise, that he warmly praised, without hesitation, a worthy contemporary
such as my good friend John Updike.
Dmitri Nabokov
Montreux, Switzerland
TYPE: Letter
LOAD-DATE: February 25, 2001
Copyright 2001 Southam Inc.
The Ottawa Citizen
February 25, 2001 Sunday FINAL EDITION
SECTION: THE CITIZEN'S WEEKLY: BOOKS, Pg. C14
LENGTH: 196 words
HEADLINE: Nabokov not jealous
BYLINE: Dmitri Nabokov
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
BODY:
In a piece titled "Updike: Still the languid genius" (Citizen's Weekly Reading,
Dec. 24, 2000) John Banville calls my father Vladimir Nabokov "corrosively
jealous" and says that he was "forced" to pay Updike "tribute as a stylist." I
usually ignore media drivel unless it is blatantly offensive or untrue. In this
case it is both. Jealous? Corrosively? Forced? By whom, of whom and of what,
for God's sake? VN was sure of his talent and optimistic about the future, even
at difficult moments. The fruits of his efforts substantiate his feelings. In
fact, during our last butterfly jaunt, on a Swiss peak, near the end of life,
he confirmed to me that he had achieved what he had always wished.
If he was sometimes harsh regarding those who did not meet his standard --
Dostoyevsky, Freud, Mahan come to mind -- it was surely not out of jealousy. He
dearly loved the greats (Shakespeare, Pushkin, Joyce, Flaubert, among others).
And I would judge that it is a refutation of any charge of jealousy, corrosive
or otherwise, that he warmly praised, without hesitation, a worthy contemporary
such as my good friend John Updike.
Dmitri Nabokov
Montreux, Switzerland
TYPE: Letter
LOAD-DATE: February 25, 2001