Dear Carolyn, dear Anthony et al,

 

I did not mean to set off a new flurry regarding authorship and Shakespeare, but was simply citing an example of computerized scholarship. As for what little my father said to me with respect to the inner workings of PF, I'm trying to sort things carefully in my mind and establish a succinct but unadulterated recollection. 

 

By the way, are incoming messages multiplying like bunnies at your ends?

 

Cordially,

DN

Dear Dmitri,

 

Many thanks for this reassurance that you are "trying to sort things carefully in my mind and establish a succinct but unadulterated recollection". What an awesome responsibility, when we are all hoping for a clue!

 

One thing that puzzles me: Why, after writing Pale Fire, did your father still say, in 1964 (Strong Opinions, 1st edn, p. 47): "I would say that of all my books Lolita has left me with the most pleasurable afterglow--perhaps because it is the purest of all, the most abstract and carefully contrived."?

 

Best regards,

 

Anthony