Subject
Azar Nafisi, libraries, V.Nabokov
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Date
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EDNOTE. Suellen Stringer-Hye is the longtime compiler of the occasional
NABOKV-L feature the VNCollations, surveys of VN in the popular media. Here
she responds to Dmitri Nabokov's comments (see below)on her posting of April
21.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stringer-Hye, Suellen" <suellen.stringer-hye@vanderbilt.edu>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (51
lines) ------------------
>
> Thanks very much to DN. While I agree that the destruction of
> cultural heritage is tragic whenever and wherever it occurs, I
> must add one more comment and I do not mean this to be political.
> In writing the article about VN and libraries, I realized that
> for Nabokov, libraries contain the straw out of which the gold of
> cultural authenticity can be spun. It is a tenant of Librarianship
> that the free exchange of ideas represented by an open library is
> the cornerstone of Democracy. When these insights are not
> recognized, appreciated, believed or of concern, libraries and
> other cultural institutions are not protected. In the case of Iraq,
> one form of gold was "secured", while another, less apparent, was
> not. There in lies the deeper loss.
>
> --On Saturday, May 03, 2003 9:22 AM -0700
>
> From: DMITRI NABOKOV
>
>
> Suellen Stringer-Hye writes eloquently about my father and about
> great libraries. I was aware of the merits of both, and am
> touched to see them so lovingly extolled. The destruction of
> cultural heritage is tragic, whether it be by official decree
> (remember the Buddhas?), by local looters of their country's
> museum, or by damage to a library as an unintentional and
> dreadful by-product while liberating the minds of what Azar
> Nafisi called in a recent interview "a million readers who cannot
> read what they want to," whether there is a library nearby or
> not.
> DN
> --------------------------------
> EDNOTE. DN refers to SuellnStringer-Hye's posting of April 21. >
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Stringer-Hye, Suellen
> Vanderbilt University
> Email: suellen.stringer-hye@Vanderbilt.Edu
NABOKV-L feature the VNCollations, surveys of VN in the popular media. Here
she responds to Dmitri Nabokov's comments (see below)on her posting of April
21.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stringer-Hye, Suellen" <suellen.stringer-hye@vanderbilt.edu>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (51
lines) ------------------
>
> Thanks very much to DN. While I agree that the destruction of
> cultural heritage is tragic whenever and wherever it occurs, I
> must add one more comment and I do not mean this to be political.
> In writing the article about VN and libraries, I realized that
> for Nabokov, libraries contain the straw out of which the gold of
> cultural authenticity can be spun. It is a tenant of Librarianship
> that the free exchange of ideas represented by an open library is
> the cornerstone of Democracy. When these insights are not
> recognized, appreciated, believed or of concern, libraries and
> other cultural institutions are not protected. In the case of Iraq,
> one form of gold was "secured", while another, less apparent, was
> not. There in lies the deeper loss.
>
> --On Saturday, May 03, 2003 9:22 AM -0700
>
> From: DMITRI NABOKOV
>
>
> Suellen Stringer-Hye writes eloquently about my father and about
> great libraries. I was aware of the merits of both, and am
> touched to see them so lovingly extolled. The destruction of
> cultural heritage is tragic, whether it be by official decree
> (remember the Buddhas?), by local looters of their country's
> museum, or by damage to a library as an unintentional and
> dreadful by-product while liberating the minds of what Azar
> Nafisi called in a recent interview "a million readers who cannot
> read what they want to," whether there is a library nearby or
> not.
> DN
> --------------------------------
> EDNOTE. DN refers to SuellnStringer-Hye's posting of April 21. >
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Stringer-Hye, Suellen
> Vanderbilt University
> Email: suellen.stringer-hye@Vanderbilt.Edu