Dear Dmitri,

I got a few chuckles, rather unsoberly, from your side-swipe at my chaise longue (race you?) But all seriousness aside, thank you for taking me even half-way seriously. It tickles me that you have noticed my chaise longue (of which I shall send a picture as soon as my new scanner arrives) and my chicken, Little Childe. We are, all three, most  flattered.

Can I prove that your father is not God? Can I prove a negative? Not I!  But as even Alexey has to admit, you don't need to be God to work miracles --  a dwarf with a funny name could spin straw into gold after all.

By the way, a slight correction, regarding my German abilities. My mother is Viennese so I am not unfamiliar with the language, I just don't read it unless forced to. I was interested to read that your father read Thomas Mann in German something my mother refused to do -- she would only read him in English translation ("in German he's impossible").

Regarding legal proceedings, all I can say is that from what I read in the newspapers, that when money is involved, suits can be brought on flimsier evidence than what we have here. Michael Maar pointed out to me that Harry Potter's inventor (richer than Queen Elizabeth I hear) recently won such a suit.. I am all in favor of tort reform, so I wish such things would simply disappear from the face of the earth. But they haven't.

I would very much like to read the von Lichberg story and will even read it in German if necessary.

Herzliche grusse von Ihre

Carolyn





----- Original Message -----
From: Dmitri Nabokov
To: 'D. Barton Johnson' <mailto:chtodel@cox.net>  
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 2:11 PM
Subject: reply to carolyn;


Please post:

What flabbergasts me is that Carolyn, whose comments are sometimes sober and coherent, should emphatically affirm that Mr. Maar's "discovery" is "important,"  that "he handled it very well", and that the "parallels" are more than "vague." Propelled solely by hearsay, she has lurched onto the Forum with judgements about a work she admits she has not read, written in a language she admits she does not know. Is she being serious when she suggests a legal proceeding? Between ghosts? The most reasonable suggestion was that discussion be withheld until the story has been read, whereupon it will be clear that this is one dark-voiced gypsy song that VN did not copy, and that the improvident Maar's supposed scoop has helped make a dung heap out of a molehill.

Perhaps years of curling up in a chaise longue with a pet chicken have taken their toll. Credulous Carolyn may be in for a surprise. What if it turned out that the whole Lichberg legend, from the photo on the train not from Lakehurst where he did not arrive by Zeppelin, to the third-rate German of the Lolita story, to the Heil Hitler days were all an elaborate mystification, to drum up publicity for the imminent auction? Or maybe it's another variation -- the Zeppelin ride he wrote up was true, and so was the pro-Nazi journalism, but he never wrote such a story (doesn't the fact that, wherever it appears now, it is, purportedly, "substantially abidged" tell us something?) Is it time yet to 'fess up, Jeff?

I thank Carolyn for reminding me that my father was (is?) not God.  But can she prove it?

Greetings to everyone, including Carolyn,

DN