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Nabokov and Arthur Conan Doyle in New York
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had a favorite anecdote from his U.S. lecture tour of 1894. A cab driver who had picked up Sir Arthur asked him for a ticket to his evening lecture rather than his fare:
"How on earth did you recognize me?" Conan Doyle asked. The cabman replied:
"If you will excuse me, your coat lapels are badly twisted downwards where they have been grasped by pertinacious New York reporters. Your hair has the Quakerish cut of a Philadelphia barber, and your hat, battered at the rim in front, shows where you have tightly grasped it, in the struggle to stand your ground at a Chicago literary luncheon. Your right shoe has a large block of Buffalo mud just under the instep; the odor of a Utica cigar hangs about your clothing and the overcoat itself shows the slovenly brushing of the porters of the through sleepers from Albany. The crumbs of the donut on the top of your waistcoat could only have come there in Springfield. And, of course, the labels on your case give a full account of your recent travels--just below the brass plaque reading 'Conan Doyle.'"
Daniel Stashower. Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conoan Doyle (New York:Holt, 1999), pp. 187-8.
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Soon after his arrival in New York in 1940 VN was interviewed by Nikolai Alou for the New Russian Word, the Russian emigre paper (best known to non-Russian New Yorkers as the Hobo Clobo). VN concludes the interview with the comment that he feels much at home there, with the following anecdote:
"I once went to a barber who, after several words with me, said: 'It is immediately apparent that you are an Englishman who has just arrived in America and that you are a journalist.' ---' How did you arrive at this conclusion,' I asked, astounded at his perspicacity. 'Because your have an English accent, you still haven't worn out your European shoes, and because you have the large forehead typical of journalists."
"You're a real Sherlock Holms," -- I flattered the barber.
"And who is this Sherlock Holmes?"
[Trans. by editor]
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The Russian original of June 23, 1940 follows:
ИНТЕРВЬЮ НИКОЛАЮ АЛЛУ
[Впервые опубликовано: “Новое русское слово”, 23 июня 1940.]
Вл. Вл. в Нью-Йорке сразу почувствовал себя “своим”.
“Я как-то зашел в автоматический ресторан, чтобы выпить стакан холодного шоколада. Всунул пятак, повернул ручку и вижу, что шоколад льется прямо на пол. По своей рассеянности, я забыл подставить под кран стакан. Так вот, здесь нужно научиться подставлять стакан”.
“Как-то я зашел к парикмахеру, который, после нескольких слов со мной, сказал: “Сразу видно, что вы англичанин, только что приехали в Америку и работаете в газетах”. — “Почему вы сделали такое заключение?” — спросил я, удивленный его проницательностью. “Потому что выговор у вас английский, что вы еще не успели сносить европейских ботинок и потому что у вас большой лоб и характерная для газетных работников голова”.
“Вы просто Шерлок Холмс”, — польстил я парикмахеру.
“А кто такой Шерлок Холмс?””