Michael
Chabon's (Wonder Boys, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay)
Nabokov interests have been pointed out. His latest novel, The
Yiddish Policemen's Union, a mazy, noirish thriller embedded in a
recoursed river of Jewish history, dubs Nabokov with an honorific that
I can't imagine that Nabokov ever imagined for himself. From the
novel's overlooked Author's Note:
...the
Zugzwang of Mendel Shpilman was devised by Reb Vladimir Nabokov and is
presented in his Speak, Memory.
Zugzwang
is the chess term for being put at a disadvantage by being obliged to
make a move. Here, it refers to a chess problem involving Zugzwang.
Mendel Shpilman is the poor chess-playing soul, the discovery of whose
corpse kicks off the story. And Reb is the Jewish title of respect
often applied to a learned man or teacher. The problem is, of course,
the one on page 293 of the Vintage Speak, Memory.
Reb
Vladimir feels so right to me.
Michael Juliar