Vladimir Nabokov

Sasha Chorny

By Shakeeb_Arzoo, 23 September, 2019

What else can we know of Sasha Chorny, who according to D.S. Mirsky "wrote very creditable satirical verse and was the only unpoetical poet of any worth during the rule of symbolism." Brian Boyd writes about Nabokov's acquaintance with Alexander Glikberg (real name of Chorny) as: "Nabokov judged in retrospect that Chorny initiated  this project not out of admiration for the young Sirin's verse — his taste was too discriminating for that, Nabokov thought—but simply as an act of kindness to the promising and prolific son of a close friend." (VNRY 187) Wikipedia has this quote attributed to Nabokov on Chorny: "He left only a few books and a quiet, beauteous shadow."

Russian readers (boffins?) can perhaps help out.

Shakeeb_Arzoo

4 years 6 months ago

Ok, got something on Sasha Chorny, from Maxim D. Shrayer's An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature. It's not much but will do for all intents and purposes (website related).