Subject
Re: Dmitri Nabokov Sues an American Publisher (fwd)
Date
Body
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From: MARGERY <margery@sfsu.edu>
Here is a rather late response to the discussion on Pia Peras book Los
Diary.
There is a work by Valerie Martin which is called, if Im in tune
with my memory, Mary Reilly, in which Martin describes Mary Reilly, a
female servant, from Robert Louis Stevensons The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson himself never allowed poor Mary Reilly to
become more than a secondary heroine used in the book for the only purpose
of cooking and cleaning. Valerie Martin reworked Stevensons novel in her
own feminine way.
Remembering Nabokovs unpleasant attitude toward female authors, its
pleasant to know that Pia Pera rewrote a story from Lolitas point of
view. Rewriting, probably, could be considered one of the features of
contemporary post-modern literature.
I never heard, however, that Valerie Martin was sued for stealing from
Stevenson. There is a question: to what point blood relatives, who are
not always writers themselves and who are often interested in royalties
more than in achievements of literary thought, can influence a modern
literary process?
About Nabokovs brother: he didnt commit suicide. During the war, in
Germany, working at the radiostation, he was hiding an American ? English?
pilot from the Nazists. Nazists, apparently, found out about it, and
Sergei Nabokov died in a concentration camp. Does anyone know more about
his fate?
---------------------
EDITOR's NOte. Two comments. RLS copyright had expired. The story that
Sergei was arrested for harboring a downed flyer seems to have originated,
of at least perpetuated by Zinaida Shakovskaya--not the most reliable of
sources. Anti-German remarks and sexual preference were apparently the
cause of his arrest.
M. Meklina; margery@sfsu.edu
From: MARGERY <margery@sfsu.edu>
Here is a rather late response to the discussion on Pia Peras book Los
Diary.
There is a work by Valerie Martin which is called, if Im in tune
with my memory, Mary Reilly, in which Martin describes Mary Reilly, a
female servant, from Robert Louis Stevensons The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson himself never allowed poor Mary Reilly to
become more than a secondary heroine used in the book for the only purpose
of cooking and cleaning. Valerie Martin reworked Stevensons novel in her
own feminine way.
Remembering Nabokovs unpleasant attitude toward female authors, its
pleasant to know that Pia Pera rewrote a story from Lolitas point of
view. Rewriting, probably, could be considered one of the features of
contemporary post-modern literature.
I never heard, however, that Valerie Martin was sued for stealing from
Stevenson. There is a question: to what point blood relatives, who are
not always writers themselves and who are often interested in royalties
more than in achievements of literary thought, can influence a modern
literary process?
About Nabokovs brother: he didnt commit suicide. During the war, in
Germany, working at the radiostation, he was hiding an American ? English?
pilot from the Nazists. Nazists, apparently, found out about it, and
Sergei Nabokov died in a concentration camp. Does anyone know more about
his fate?
---------------------
EDITOR's NOte. Two comments. RLS copyright had expired. The story that
Sergei was arrested for harboring a downed flyer seems to have originated,
of at least perpetuated by Zinaida Shakovskaya--not the most reliable of
sources. Anti-German remarks and sexual preference were apparently the
cause of his arrest.
M. Meklina; margery@sfsu.edu