Subject
VN Sighting (in NYRB) (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. Nina Berberova knew VN well in the 20s & 30s. Those
interested will find her account in her memoir _The Italics are Mine_.
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From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
Pushkin's Heirs
To the Editor:
In his review of ''The Book of Happiness'' (July 25), Adam
Phillips generously praises Nina Berberova for ''her intent but
understated reworking of Russia's great literary themes.'' Yet he does not
seem to notice one such theme when he quotes Karelov speaking to Vera: ''I
don't want 'peace' or 'freedom.' I want happiness itself.'' The allusion
is to part of a Pushkin poem, which Nabokov translates: ''There is no
bliss on earth: there's peace and freedom, though. / An enviable lot I
long have yearned to know.''
In context, Pushkin's opposition is between personal
happiness and the satisfactions of artistic achievement. Berberova's
friend Nabokov reworked this theme himself during the emigration, though
in a far from understated way, in a novel with a title, ''Despair,''
antiphonal to that of Berberova's posthumously published book, which he
may have known in manuscript.
William Vesterman
New Brunswick, N.J.
interested will find her account in her memoir _The Italics are Mine_.
-------------------------
From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
Pushkin's Heirs
To the Editor:
In his review of ''The Book of Happiness'' (July 25), Adam
Phillips generously praises Nina Berberova for ''her intent but
understated reworking of Russia's great literary themes.'' Yet he does not
seem to notice one such theme when he quotes Karelov speaking to Vera: ''I
don't want 'peace' or 'freedom.' I want happiness itself.'' The allusion
is to part of a Pushkin poem, which Nabokov translates: ''There is no
bliss on earth: there's peace and freedom, though. / An enviable lot I
long have yearned to know.''
In context, Pushkin's opposition is between personal
happiness and the satisfactions of artistic achievement. Berberova's
friend Nabokov reworked this theme himself during the emigration, though
in a far from understated way, in a novel with a title, ''Despair,''
antiphonal to that of Berberova's posthumously published book, which he
may have known in manuscript.
William Vesterman
New Brunswick, N.J.