Subject
Dmitri Nabokov on pears and noses: Pia Pera's DIARIO DI LO & the
Nosik VN biography
Nosik VN biography
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. Below Dmitri Nabokov comments upon yet another
Lolita-inspired novel (some might say "LOLIA rip-off). It brings to mind
yet another by A.A. Holmes, called, I think, THE END OF ALICE.
Someone ought to do a study of such-like, perhaps under the title:
(perVERSIONS OF LOLITA).
---------------------------------------------------------
Jan. 7, 1998
From: Dmitri Nabokov
Let it be clear that it is neither my right nor my intention to censor. I
am allowed, however, to express astonishment. Astonishment that anyone
should take seriously two of the worst coattailing
hacks (there are others too, alas, including utter frauds like the
monolingual expert on translation Hofstadter) amid the list's many fine
scholars and "little Nabokovs" -- one of Father's favorite signatures.
On is Pia Pera, whose DIARIO DI LO has been, I see, a subject of
discussion. Her book is in large part a plagiaristic exercise using VN
characters all the way down to John Ray, PhD, in some 360 pages of boring
and dreadfully written tripe purportedly intended to pander to feminist
proponents of a Lolita's-eyeview of the happenings in Nabokov's book --
hardly "LOLITA in Context." Meanwhile Madame Pera, who, alas, is truly
pear-shaped, has used all kinds of self-promotion, from trying to enlist
my support to posing for the press in flimsy undergarments to
participating in provincial literary evenings in company that casts little
sunshine on her opus. The opus was optioned by a couple of well known
publishers in the US and France, then, on closer examination, rejected for
flagrant copyright infringement. Its only published version, to the best
of my knowledge, is that of a shady Italian house not worth suing. If one
wants to compare rotten pearlets with Sequoias one is welcome. First, of
course, one must struggle though Madame P.'s writing. Good luck. Something
the fruit of her labors did yield among Milan's literary community were
some hilarious poems. Sara bene che la Signora Lucamente della Georgetown
University, nonche il reparto della MLA da cui fu sponsorizzata, siano al
corrente de quanto sopra, in modo particolare della violazione dei diritti
d'autore. (DN here refers to the MLA paper "La metamorfsi testuale: Dalla
LOLITA di Nabokov al DIARIO DI LO di Pia Pera" by Stefania Lucamente --
DBJ]
A more repugnant case is that of Mr. Nosik, one of the most
unscholarly ans unappetizing opportunists in Nabokovdom, who has managed
to scramble onto a corner of the "telega" by getting himself admitted to
an undiscriminating discussion group. He began by publishing a dreadful
Russian pastiche of PNIN, full of blunders and deliberate alterations,
when an accurate and stylistically excellent translation, the fruit of a
collaboration between Vera Nabokov and Gene Barabtarlo, was available.
Then Nosik hurried on to slap together a "biography" that, where it is not
outright theft from excellent Boyd, sloppy Field, and worse, is largely
pretty unsavory invention. To make matters worse, it is as much of an
affront to the Russian language as to Nabokov's life and writing. The only
translation of this book I know of was made into equally bad German by a
fairly respectable publisher, who ended up with a well-deserved omelette
on his face when the thing was blasted by the few German critics with the
fortitude to wade through it. Thank goodness this charlatan, together with
the poisonous Ms. Skakhovskoy, will soon be eclipsed by the appearance of
Boyd's biography in Germany and Russia.
Vladimir Nabokov probably would not have cared about such low-altitude
tripe, and perhaps I am only imagining the accelerating whirr of his
ashes. Yet one cannot deny that his wife, his honor, and his masterpiece
have been insulted.
DN
Lolita-inspired novel (some might say "LOLIA rip-off). It brings to mind
yet another by A.A. Holmes, called, I think, THE END OF ALICE.
Someone ought to do a study of such-like, perhaps under the title:
(perVERSIONS OF LOLITA).
---------------------------------------------------------
Jan. 7, 1998
From: Dmitri Nabokov
Let it be clear that it is neither my right nor my intention to censor. I
am allowed, however, to express astonishment. Astonishment that anyone
should take seriously two of the worst coattailing
hacks (there are others too, alas, including utter frauds like the
monolingual expert on translation Hofstadter) amid the list's many fine
scholars and "little Nabokovs" -- one of Father's favorite signatures.
On is Pia Pera, whose DIARIO DI LO has been, I see, a subject of
discussion. Her book is in large part a plagiaristic exercise using VN
characters all the way down to John Ray, PhD, in some 360 pages of boring
and dreadfully written tripe purportedly intended to pander to feminist
proponents of a Lolita's-eyeview of the happenings in Nabokov's book --
hardly "LOLITA in Context." Meanwhile Madame Pera, who, alas, is truly
pear-shaped, has used all kinds of self-promotion, from trying to enlist
my support to posing for the press in flimsy undergarments to
participating in provincial literary evenings in company that casts little
sunshine on her opus. The opus was optioned by a couple of well known
publishers in the US and France, then, on closer examination, rejected for
flagrant copyright infringement. Its only published version, to the best
of my knowledge, is that of a shady Italian house not worth suing. If one
wants to compare rotten pearlets with Sequoias one is welcome. First, of
course, one must struggle though Madame P.'s writing. Good luck. Something
the fruit of her labors did yield among Milan's literary community were
some hilarious poems. Sara bene che la Signora Lucamente della Georgetown
University, nonche il reparto della MLA da cui fu sponsorizzata, siano al
corrente de quanto sopra, in modo particolare della violazione dei diritti
d'autore. (DN here refers to the MLA paper "La metamorfsi testuale: Dalla
LOLITA di Nabokov al DIARIO DI LO di Pia Pera" by Stefania Lucamente --
DBJ]
A more repugnant case is that of Mr. Nosik, one of the most
unscholarly ans unappetizing opportunists in Nabokovdom, who has managed
to scramble onto a corner of the "telega" by getting himself admitted to
an undiscriminating discussion group. He began by publishing a dreadful
Russian pastiche of PNIN, full of blunders and deliberate alterations,
when an accurate and stylistically excellent translation, the fruit of a
collaboration between Vera Nabokov and Gene Barabtarlo, was available.
Then Nosik hurried on to slap together a "biography" that, where it is not
outright theft from excellent Boyd, sloppy Field, and worse, is largely
pretty unsavory invention. To make matters worse, it is as much of an
affront to the Russian language as to Nabokov's life and writing. The only
translation of this book I know of was made into equally bad German by a
fairly respectable publisher, who ended up with a well-deserved omelette
on his face when the thing was blasted by the few German critics with the
fortitude to wade through it. Thank goodness this charlatan, together with
the poisonous Ms. Skakhovskoy, will soon be eclipsed by the appearance of
Boyd's biography in Germany and Russia.
Vladimir Nabokov probably would not have cared about such low-altitude
tripe, and perhaps I am only imagining the accelerating whirr of his
ashes. Yet one cannot deny that his wife, his honor, and his masterpiece
have been insulted.
DN