EDNOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Dr. Nassim Balestrini is the author of  Berdjis, Nassim: Imagery in Vladimir Nabokov's Last Russian Novel (Dar), Its English Translation (The Gift), and other Prose Works of the 1930s. Her new Nabokov study is expected to appear by the end of this year.
----- Original Message -----
From: Balestrini, Dr. Nassim
To: chtodel@cox.net
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 6:45 AM
Subject: Prieto and Waltz
For NABOKV-L:
Concerning the article "Schmugglerleben" which you mailed yesterday:
 
This review of the German translation of Jose Manuel Prietos's novel _Liwadija_ summarizes the plot as follows: a Cuban smuggler tries to smuggle increasingly smaller items out of the Soviet Union. He is to catch a rare butterfly for a Swedish collector and take it abroad. He also helps a Russian prostitute escape from an Istanbul brothel. Once they arrive in Yalta, she disappears, but eventually writes him seven letters. The novel ends with the smuggler's first words of the first letter he writes to her. This occurs when the butterfly leaves its cocoon and ascends into the air.
The Havana-born Prieto (who studied and worked in the Soviet Union for twelve years) is the translator of various Russian writers. He has not translated any of VN's works into Spanish. But he mentions VN as one of the writers who have inspired him as a novelist.
 
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Two articles in the _Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung_ focus on the Darmstadt production of _The Waltz Invention_:
 
Eva-Maria Magel, "Absurd, befremdlich und schillernd: Der Regisseur Werner Schroeter über Theater, Film und Nabokov / Erstaufführung in Darmstadt." _FAZ_ 7 May 2004: 54.
This is a piece about the director of the Darmstadt production.
 
Gerhard Stadelmaier. "Klapsmüllers Esel, Klappsmüllers Kuh: Ein Käfig voller Schmarren: Werner Schroeter stellt 'Walzers Erfindung' von Nabokov im Staatstheater darmstadt vor." _FAZ_ 10 May 2004: 39.
This negative review of the Saturday premiere bemoans the reduction of VN's play into the mere staging of a madhouse. As a result, the point of the play is lost to the audience. As the entire world and all characters on stage appear equally crazy, one cannot tell why one madman more or less would make any difference at all.