Subject
Nabokov, Dostoevsky and antisemitism (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
No one could make Nabokov read Dostoevsky, with very few exceptions, like
the DOUBLE. This part is accurate. To connect it with Dostoevsky's
antisemitism is, however, quite wrong since, as I already wrote earlier,
antisemitism did not stop Nabokov from reading Gogol. It just proves again
that he chose his writers not by their views but by his perception and
evaluation of their skills. It is true, however, that once you begin
disliking a writer for reasons that have nothing to do with his/her views,
then if you happen to disagree with those views, it makes your dislike of
the writer even stronger.
Galya Diment
No one could make Nabokov read Dostoevsky, with very few exceptions, like
the DOUBLE. This part is accurate. To connect it with Dostoevsky's
antisemitism is, however, quite wrong since, as I already wrote earlier,
antisemitism did not stop Nabokov from reading Gogol. It just proves again
that he chose his writers not by their views but by his perception and
evaluation of their skills. It is true, however, that once you begin
disliking a writer for reasons that have nothing to do with his/her views,
then if you happen to disagree with those views, it makes your dislike of
the writer even stronger.
Galya Diment