Brian Boyd writes: A correspondent has asked for the source of the following alleged Nabokov quote. It sounds plausible, but it sets off no bells: "the shadow of an object which is not yet present.”

Jansy Mello: I observed once that “Nabokov believes that literature searches a secret depth, crossed by "substantial shadows" (as he wrote in his biography of Nikolai Gogol) cast on our present by other past, future or unknown dimensions, the reality of which challenges the illusions of everyday life.”

I wish I could now access my copy of VN’s biography of Gogol to reach the full quote that I paraphrased since it suggests the lines brought up by Brian. Perhaps this indication, insufficient as it is, my be helpful.