Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0003960, Wed, 21 Apr 1999 20:03:07 -0700

Subject
Re: squawk, gawk, and spoke (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Priscilla Meyer <pmeyer@mail.wesleyan.edu>

>From: rain dogs <nmg20@hermes.cam.ac.uk>
>
>I'm sure I read somewhere that there's a filmed interview with Nabokov at
>the end of which he is heard pronouncing his own name in a variety of
>different ways, as if to confuse the audience about it. Irritatingly, I
>can't remember where I read this, and haven't seen the tape, but I think
>it was while he was in Switzerland. So not actually that much use, unless
>someone's seen it...

He pronounces his name in his three languages, which amusingly stress both
first and last names in three different ways:

English: VLADimir NABokov
French: VladiMIR NaboKOFF
Russian: VlaDImir NaBOkov

And while it MAY confuse the audience, I didn't take that to be VN's
intention.

Priscilla