VN disliked Existentialism, and all "-ism's" , to put it mildly. Here is one reference that comes to mind. It is the first paragraph of a review he wrote on JP Sartre's "La Nausee" entitled "Sartre's First Try" , written in1949

NAUSEA. By Jean-Paul Sartre. Translated by Lloyd Alexander.

Sartre's name, I understand, is associated with a fashionable brand of cafe philosophy and since for every so-called "existentialist" one finds quite a few "suctorialists" (if I may coin a polite term), this made-in- England translation of Sartre's first novel, "La Nausée" (published in Paris in 1938) should enjoy some success.

The complete review is on the New York Times' "Life and Times of Nabokov" web site, at:

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/02/lifetimes/nab-r-sartre.html

have fun, I did

will

----- Original Message -----

From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>

To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>

Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 7:27 AM

Subject: Query: Nabokov and Kierkegaard

> hello all,
>
> I was wondering whether anyone knew of articles or books dealing
> with Nabokov's relation to philosophy generally, to existentialism, and
> in particular to Soren Kierkegaard. Both Kierkegaard and Nabokov
> make use of Anderson's fairy tales, and I was hoping to draw some
> parallels between them using Anderson as a link. However, I'm not
> sure whether Nabokov would have had any contact with Kierkegaard's
> works, or what he thought of Kierkegaard's brand of philosophy.
> Thanks very much for any help on this subject.
>
> Ben
>
> (my email is ben.gallagher@utoronto.ca)
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----