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Fw: Nabokov and psoriasis
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----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Howerton
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: Nabokov and psoriasis
Perhaps only those of us who have suffered sudden and rapid "exfoliation" with psoriasis can understand how such a seemingly insignificant disease (little flaky patches here and there, a troublesome scalp, semi-encrusted elbows, etc.) could have engendered real Nabokovian thoughts of suicide. In that process (twice for me in the last thirty years) the great majority of the body and head becomes in effect a very tender scab which will not go away and which will not tolerate anything next to it. Exfoliation apparently can be brought on by mental stress. In his early days, there were no real treatments except ultra-violet rays (the disease is worse in cold months and practically disappears in summer) and various lotions to soften the skin for a few hours. Nowadays, thank God, we have drugs like Methotrexate (which is a leukemia drug and can be dangerous) as well as some new ones that will stop exfoliation in a matter of weeks. Updike apparently has a severe case (he's written an article about this) as do millions of others all over the world. A doctor once told me that the person who discovers a permanent cure will win the Nobel Prize. Not likely anytime soon though. The disease is closely linked with cancer and involves fantastic rates of cell division.
Phil
Judge Philip F. Howerton, Jr.
2812 Sunset Drive
Charlotte, NC 28209
"To be proud, to be brave, to be free." Vladimir Nabokov
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 3:42 PM
Subject: Fw: Nabokov and psoriasis
----- Original Message -----
From: Frans Meulenberg
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 2:41 AM
Subject: Nabokov and psoriasis
Dear Nabokovians,
Vladimir Nabokov suffered from the skin disease psoriasis. I really do not know how severe his complaints were. In February 1937 Nabokov suffered a bad attack (Boyd, The Russian Years). On May 15 of that year, he wrote to Véra: `I continue with the radiation treatments every day and am pretty much cured. You know - now I can tell you frankly - the indescribable torments I endured in February, before these treatments, drove me to the border of suicide - a border I was not authorized to cross because I had you in my luggage.' He went sunbathing a lot as did `radiation therapies' (Selected Letters). Boyd mentions one more exacerbation of psoriasis, which occurred in the late sixties when the strain of writing 'Ada' fell from Nabokov's shoulders. (Boyd, The American Years).
How about his fiction? Nabokov devotes one page, all-in-all, to the disease, in 'Ada'. He mentions `a spectacular skin disease that had been portrayed recently by a famous American novelist in his Chiron and described in side-splitting style by a co-sufferer who wrote essays for a London weekly'. With this famous writer Nabokov refers to Updike and his novel The centaur; the essayist of the a London weekly is hitherto unknown (as far as I know). The two psoriasis patients in Ada exchange notes with tips: `Mercury!' or `Höhensonne works wonders'. Other pieces of advice are found in a one-volume encyclopedia, and involve taking hot baths at least twice a month and avoiding spices. A doctor describes these patients as `Crimson-blotched, silver-scaled, yellow-crusted wretches, harmless psoriatics'. The narrator is less pathetic and speaks of `meek martyrs'.
And in 'Pale Fire' psoriasis is attributed to Shade's daughter who has 'psoriatic fingernails' (Pale Fire, 355).
My question is: are there other references to psoriasis in Nabokov's fiction or non-fiction? The reason why I ask this is a keen interest in the disease. Some years ago I published an article on 'Literature and psoriasis' (British Medical Journal 1997:1709-1711), including the above Nabokov references. Now I am reworking this material for a booklet on the same theme. Therefore I am very eager to know whether I missed certain phrases on the disease by Nabokov.
Thanks in advance.
Frans Meulenberg
Erasmus University / Medical Center
Department of Philosophy, medical ethics and history
frans.meulenberg@woordenwinkel.nl