Subject
Dmitri Nabokov re CORNELL UNIVERSITY Russian Department (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. Cornell University where VN taught Russian literature has
announced the impending closure of that department. Below is Dmitri
Nabokov's response to that announcement.
------------------------------------------------------------
TO ALL, WITHIN AND OUTSIDE OF THE UNIVERSITY, WHO ARE CONCERNED WITH
CORNELL'S SURVIVAL AS AN INSTITUTION OF THE FIRST RANK, INCLUDING THE
PRESIDENT, THE TRUSTEES, THE DEPARTMENT HEADS, AND ALL PARTISANS OF GOOD
EDUCATION.
I AM STUNNED BY WHAT I HEAR.
AT A TIME WHEN WORLDWIDE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS BEGIN FOR THE
NABOKOVIAN WHO GAVE REBIRTH AND FAME TO THE CENTURY--OLD STUDY OF
RUSSIAN LITERATURE AT CORNELL -- VLADIMIR NABOKOV HIMSELF -- CAN IT
BE THAT THIS VERY DEPARTMENT IS BEING ABOLISHED? HOW OFTEN THE VOLUMES
KNOWN COLLECTIVELY AS HIS "CORNELL LECTURES" ARE CITED AS THE SUPREME
AUTHORITY IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES AND TRANSLATIONS!
THE EMINENT RUSSIAN SCHOLARS OF CORNELL - GEORGE GIBIAN, WHO CAPTAINED
A NABOKOV FESTIVAL WITH WORLDWIDE RESONANCE IN 1982; GAVRIEL SHAPIRO,
WHOSE FINE PERFORMANCE I HAD OCCASION TO ADMIRE AT THE RECENT SORBONNE
CONFERENCE; THEIR COLLEAGUES; THE OUTSTANDING GRADUATE FELLOWS - SHOULD
BE SOURCES OF PRIDE, NOT OBJECTS OF CORPORATE COST-CUTTING.
I SPEAK NOT ONLY AS MY FATHER'S SON, AND NOT ONLY ABOUT THE ACADEMIC
MILIEU. FROM AN INTERNATIONAL VANTAGE POINT, I PERCEIVE A GROWING
CULTURAL IMBALANCE BETWEEN THE LEADERS OF THE EEC AND THEIR AMERICAN
COUNTERPARTS WHO MUST DEAL WITH THEM EVER MORE CLOSELY. HOW MANY
CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED CEO'S DO WE HAVE TO ONE BOB LUTZ OF CHRYSLER,
WHO CAN CITE AND DISCUSS BAUDELAIRE AT A FRENCH AUTO SHOW, HEINE IN
FRANKFURT, OR NABOKOV AT THE VIPER INVITATIONALS?
BUT IT GOES FURTHER THAN THAT. IN AN AGE WHEN ESSENTIAL LEARNING
TOOLS -- AND SOURCES OF JOY -- LIKE LATIN ARE BEING PURGED FROM OUR
SCHOOLS, IS IT FAIR TO DEPRIVE THE HOPEFUL STUDENT AT A GREAT
UNIVERSITY OF THE SHEER AESTHETIC BLISS OF PROPER STUDY, WITHIN A
DEDICATED DEPARTMENT, OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S FOREMOST LITERATURES?
TO SAY NOTHING OF THE SINGULARLY BAD TIMING WITH REGARD TO AWAKENING
RUSSIA HERSELF: EVEN AMID HIS COUNTRY'S CATASTROPHIC PROBLEMS, THE
AVERAGE RUSSIAN READS. WHETHER THE CORNELL GRADUATE IN RUSSIA WILL
COMMUNE WITH SCHOLARS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, HONEST BUSINESSMEN, OR
RUN-OF-THE-MILL MAFIOSI, HE WILL FIND A GOOD LITERARY FRAME OF
REFERENCE PRICELESS.
AND MUST WE, IN AMERICA, RELEGATE A GREAT LANGUAGE AND ITS LITERATURE
TO THE WASTE- BIN MARKED "INTELLECTUAL ELITISM?" CAN'T CORNELL
ECONOMIZE ON SOMETHING ELSE TO KEEP FROM GOING UNDER?
SINCERELY,
DMITRI NABOKOV
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
cc:
Philip E. Lewis, Dean
College of Arts and Sciences
147 Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: as_dean@cornell.edu
Walter I. Cohen, Dean
The Graduate School
384 Caldwell Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: wic1@cornell.edu
Don M. Randell, Provost
300 Day Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: dmr4@cornell.edu
Hunter R. Rawlings, III
President
300 Day Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail (via his executive assistant, Ann K. Huntzinger): akh2@cornell.edu
Valerie J. Bunce, Co-Director
Institute of European Studies
120 Uris Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: vjb2@cornell.edu
Gavriel Shapiro, Chairman
Department of Russian Literature
236 Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: gs33@cornell.edu
announced the impending closure of that department. Below is Dmitri
Nabokov's response to that announcement.
------------------------------------------------------------
TO ALL, WITHIN AND OUTSIDE OF THE UNIVERSITY, WHO ARE CONCERNED WITH
CORNELL'S SURVIVAL AS AN INSTITUTION OF THE FIRST RANK, INCLUDING THE
PRESIDENT, THE TRUSTEES, THE DEPARTMENT HEADS, AND ALL PARTISANS OF GOOD
EDUCATION.
I AM STUNNED BY WHAT I HEAR.
AT A TIME WHEN WORLDWIDE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS BEGIN FOR THE
NABOKOVIAN WHO GAVE REBIRTH AND FAME TO THE CENTURY--OLD STUDY OF
RUSSIAN LITERATURE AT CORNELL -- VLADIMIR NABOKOV HIMSELF -- CAN IT
BE THAT THIS VERY DEPARTMENT IS BEING ABOLISHED? HOW OFTEN THE VOLUMES
KNOWN COLLECTIVELY AS HIS "CORNELL LECTURES" ARE CITED AS THE SUPREME
AUTHORITY IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES AND TRANSLATIONS!
THE EMINENT RUSSIAN SCHOLARS OF CORNELL - GEORGE GIBIAN, WHO CAPTAINED
A NABOKOV FESTIVAL WITH WORLDWIDE RESONANCE IN 1982; GAVRIEL SHAPIRO,
WHOSE FINE PERFORMANCE I HAD OCCASION TO ADMIRE AT THE RECENT SORBONNE
CONFERENCE; THEIR COLLEAGUES; THE OUTSTANDING GRADUATE FELLOWS - SHOULD
BE SOURCES OF PRIDE, NOT OBJECTS OF CORPORATE COST-CUTTING.
I SPEAK NOT ONLY AS MY FATHER'S SON, AND NOT ONLY ABOUT THE ACADEMIC
MILIEU. FROM AN INTERNATIONAL VANTAGE POINT, I PERCEIVE A GROWING
CULTURAL IMBALANCE BETWEEN THE LEADERS OF THE EEC AND THEIR AMERICAN
COUNTERPARTS WHO MUST DEAL WITH THEM EVER MORE CLOSELY. HOW MANY
CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED CEO'S DO WE HAVE TO ONE BOB LUTZ OF CHRYSLER,
WHO CAN CITE AND DISCUSS BAUDELAIRE AT A FRENCH AUTO SHOW, HEINE IN
FRANKFURT, OR NABOKOV AT THE VIPER INVITATIONALS?
BUT IT GOES FURTHER THAN THAT. IN AN AGE WHEN ESSENTIAL LEARNING
TOOLS -- AND SOURCES OF JOY -- LIKE LATIN ARE BEING PURGED FROM OUR
SCHOOLS, IS IT FAIR TO DEPRIVE THE HOPEFUL STUDENT AT A GREAT
UNIVERSITY OF THE SHEER AESTHETIC BLISS OF PROPER STUDY, WITHIN A
DEDICATED DEPARTMENT, OF ONE OF THE WORLD'S FOREMOST LITERATURES?
TO SAY NOTHING OF THE SINGULARLY BAD TIMING WITH REGARD TO AWAKENING
RUSSIA HERSELF: EVEN AMID HIS COUNTRY'S CATASTROPHIC PROBLEMS, THE
AVERAGE RUSSIAN READS. WHETHER THE CORNELL GRADUATE IN RUSSIA WILL
COMMUNE WITH SCHOLARS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, HONEST BUSINESSMEN, OR
RUN-OF-THE-MILL MAFIOSI, HE WILL FIND A GOOD LITERARY FRAME OF
REFERENCE PRICELESS.
AND MUST WE, IN AMERICA, RELEGATE A GREAT LANGUAGE AND ITS LITERATURE
TO THE WASTE- BIN MARKED "INTELLECTUAL ELITISM?" CAN'T CORNELL
ECONOMIZE ON SOMETHING ELSE TO KEEP FROM GOING UNDER?
SINCERELY,
DMITRI NABOKOV
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
cc:
Philip E. Lewis, Dean
College of Arts and Sciences
147 Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: as_dean@cornell.edu
Walter I. Cohen, Dean
The Graduate School
384 Caldwell Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: wic1@cornell.edu
Don M. Randell, Provost
300 Day Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: dmr4@cornell.edu
Hunter R. Rawlings, III
President
300 Day Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail (via his executive assistant, Ann K. Huntzinger): akh2@cornell.edu
Valerie J. Bunce, Co-Director
Institute of European Studies
120 Uris Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: vjb2@cornell.edu
Gavriel Shapiro, Chairman
Department of Russian Literature
236 Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-3201
e-mail: gs33@cornell.edu