Subject
Nabokov and Victor Pelevin
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: Sergey Karpukhin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 2:14 PM
Subject: Nabokov references in Pelevin
Dear Nabokovians,
I leafed through the newly published book by the most prominent young
Russian writer Victor Pelevin. There is a short reference to Nabokov in his
novel Chisla (Numbers). The protagonist's anglophilia seemed "to establish
kinship between him and the Nabokovs of the Petersburg period, who were
happily splashing in rubber tubs in their granite house in Morskaya Street
while discussing in Oxford dialect the connection between a teenage
erection and Count Tolstoy's death". (The last phrase is an allusion to the
famous multilingual passage in Speak, Memory and Drugie berega.)
Here is the original:
"Àíãëîôèëèÿ êàçàëàñü Ñòåïå ïî÷òåííûì è äàæå â íåêîòîðîì ñìûñëå ïàòðèîòè÷íûì
êóëüòóðíûì èçûñêîì ? îíà êàê áû óñòàíàâëèâàëà ðîäñòâî ìåæäó íèì è
Íàáîêîâûìè ïåòåðáóðãñêîãî ïåðèîäà, êîòîðûå âåñåëî ïëåñêàëèñü â íàäóâíûõ
ðåçèíîâûõ âàííàõ â ñâîåì ãðàíèòíîì îñîáíÿêå íà Ìîðñêîé, îáñóæäàÿ íà
îêñôîðäñêîì äèàëåêòå ñâÿçü ìåæäó ïîäðîñòêîâîé ýðåêöèåé è ñìåðòüþ ãðàôà
Òîëñòîãî."
I haven't read all of Pelevin's books, but I remember that in Chapayev i
Pustota there were references to the young Nabokov in the Crimea.
I'm not sure I'll be able to bring myself to actually read the book: the
author's indiscriminate use of pop culture realia is deplorable, and his
strong penchant for English cliches along with his more timorous attempts
at French make him almost unreadable, to my taste.
Best wishes,
Sergey Karpukhin
www.the-nr.irk.ru
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
From: Sergey Karpukhin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 2:14 PM
Subject: Nabokov references in Pelevin
Dear Nabokovians,
I leafed through the newly published book by the most prominent young
Russian writer Victor Pelevin. There is a short reference to Nabokov in his
novel Chisla (Numbers). The protagonist's anglophilia seemed "to establish
kinship between him and the Nabokovs of the Petersburg period, who were
happily splashing in rubber tubs in their granite house in Morskaya Street
while discussing in Oxford dialect the connection between a teenage
erection and Count Tolstoy's death". (The last phrase is an allusion to the
famous multilingual passage in Speak, Memory and Drugie berega.)
Here is the original:
"Àíãëîôèëèÿ êàçàëàñü Ñòåïå ïî÷òåííûì è äàæå â íåêîòîðîì ñìûñëå ïàòðèîòè÷íûì
êóëüòóðíûì èçûñêîì ? îíà êàê áû óñòàíàâëèâàëà ðîäñòâî ìåæäó íèì è
Íàáîêîâûìè ïåòåðáóðãñêîãî ïåðèîäà, êîòîðûå âåñåëî ïëåñêàëèñü â íàäóâíûõ
ðåçèíîâûõ âàííàõ â ñâîåì ãðàíèòíîì îñîáíÿêå íà Ìîðñêîé, îáñóæäàÿ íà
îêñôîðäñêîì äèàëåêòå ñâÿçü ìåæäó ïîäðîñòêîâîé ýðåêöèåé è ñìåðòüþ ãðàôà
Òîëñòîãî."
I haven't read all of Pelevin's books, but I remember that in Chapayev i
Pustota there were references to the young Nabokov in the Crimea.
I'm not sure I'll be able to bring myself to actually read the book: the
author's indiscriminate use of pop culture realia is deplorable, and his
strong penchant for English cliches along with his more timorous attempts
at French make him almost unreadable, to my taste.
Best wishes,
Sergey Karpukhin
www.the-nr.irk.ru
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L