Bibliographic title
Vladimir Nabokov: Pro et Contra. Lichnost' i tvorchestvo Vladimira Nabokova v otsenke russkikh i zarubezhnykh myslitelei i issledovatelei. Antologiia
Page(s)
973
Publication year
"This huge volume (973 pp.) is a must for all Russian-reading Nabokov specialists and for university libraries. While it contains relatively little 'new,' it draws together over 70 years of valuable Nabokov material. Following Andrei Bitov's opening essay, the volume is divided into four main sections: The collection begins with a selection of reviews written by VN on works by Demmel, Khodasevich, Bunin, Kuprin, Berberova, and Aldanov. Next we find the Russian translations of VN's 'Introductions' to the English translations of his Russian novels, with a couple of interviews. The second section includes reminiscences of VN by Joseph Hessen, Berberova, Yanovsky, Ephraim Fogel, and Hannah Green. The third section is devoted to Russian emigre criticism on VN. The fourth and by far biggest section (over 500 pp.) is 'Contemporary Russian and Foreign Authors on Nabokov.' In addition to well-known studies by Western scholars, the section includes several previously published but hard-to-find Russian articles and also several newly published pieces. The section is summed up in editor Boris Averin's 'Nabokov and Nabokoviana.' The volume also includes useful bibliographies and extensive annotations." --D. Barton Johnson