Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0018638, Tue, 6 Oct 2009 21:40:20 -0400

Subject
QUERY: SPEAK, MEMORY
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Date
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[Dmitri Nabokov sends this comment. SES]

With regard to Joseph Aisenbug's assertion, to call my father's attitude toward his brother "contempt" is a gross overstatement. Homosexuality was indeed quite foreign to Nabokov, but he did feel affection for Sergei and pity his unfortunate condition.

DN

On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 12:13 AM, jansymello <jansy@aetern.us> wrote:


Joseph Aisenberg: "...For Nabokov's strained relationship to him you should read Boyd's Vladimir Nabokov, The Russian Years...The lines you quote, which have been called a tribute, of course aren't really much of a tribute. Nabokov is saying that he had always, correctly had a feeling of contempt for his brother (because Nabokov disdained homosexuality)...This sentence ["It is one of those lives that hopelessly claim a belated something... ]I've always thought, was rather unsettling and ugly, as were the words written to Wilson you quote. Nabokov simply could not transcend his bigoted feelings about his brother's sexuality and so his tributes are cutting and condescending at the same time as they try to express regret..."


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