Subject
The Nabokov Centennial in Montreux: April 23, 1999
From
Date
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EDITOR's NOTE. Galya Korovina, who has a translation business in New York,
wrote about and photographed many of the Nabokov Centennial events that
took place in Europe and America. Her photographs may be seen on ZEMBLA.
The article below describes the VN centennial celebration in Montreux where
the Nabokovs spent their last years. NABOKV-L thanks Galya for this memento
on Nabokov's 101st birthday.
---------------------------
>This message was originally submitted by Gkorovina@AOL.COM to the NABOKV-L
list
>at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>
>APRIL 23, 1999, MONTREUX
>
> For the second time I came to Montreux on April 22nd, 1999.
>
> For the first time I was here ten years ago, when Russia was still
under
>the Soviet government. Every singly thing that was happening to me then
was
>equally unreal: I was in Switzerland, and I was there on a private
>invitation! (that is, I was NOT a member of a wary delegation with a rabid
>paranoiac leader and a program with a lavish dose of Lenin▓s memorial
places,
>or, failing that, Communist history places). I was in Switzerland, and I
was
>absolutely free and I could do anything I wanted, and I took a train to
>Montreux.. . . It was early September, there were tourists everywhere, and
>the streets of the town, the narrow park that stretched along Lake Geneva,
>even the Montreux Palace Hotel -- everything here belonged to them.
>Nabokov's memory was my private delight, and it seemed natural that I had
>nobody with whom to share it. Nabokov was an elite writer, and I had
ceased
>to be surprised that my Moscow friends knew his name much better than many
>foreigners I met in Moscow. Even the "Lolita" prompt did not necessarily
>evoke the name of her creator.
>
> In April 1999 I found everything changed. Montreux was celebrating the
>100th anniversary of its famous inhabitant, who had become a recognized
>classic of world literature by the end of the century. On my way to the
>hotel from the railway station (a 5-minute taxi ride at most), I noticed
>several beautiful posters with VN's 1967 photo by Horst Tappe and in large
>bold letters, "NABOKOV." Later, on closer inspection, I realized this was
>the MusИe du Vieux Montreux inviting the public to the special exhibition
in
>honor of Nabokov's centenary.
>
> Outwardly the Montreux Palace Hotel seemed completely unchanged. The
>Nabokovs moved there in 1961, and soon settled on the sixth floor in the
old,
>right wing of the hotel, which is called "Le Cygne" ("The Swan"), "v
>lebedinoi chasti" (in the swan part), as Nabokov inscribed on the floor
plan
>of their rooms in his letter to his sister Elena Sikorski(1). In his 1972
>interview for Vogue, Nabokov said: ⌠We dwell in the older part of the
Palace
>Hotel, in its original part really, which was all that existed a hundred
and
>fifty years ago (you can still see that initial inn and our future windows
in
>old prints of 1840 or so)■(2). The Hotel du Cygne■ wing, built in 1837, is
>connected by a passage to the main building, built in 1906.
>
> Inside, however, the most important feature of the Montreux Palace--its
>elegant anonymity--had changed. The hotel was celebrating the 100th
>anniversary of its most famous and loyal dweller. The Montreux Palace Hotel
>had had its share of famous guests who had stayed there for extended
periods
>of time, for example, Sarah Bernhardt and Richard Strauss, but none of them
>had made it their home for sixteen years. The magnificent lobby on the
>second floor was no longer imposing but rather was occupied by the
exhibition
>"Les yeux du papillon" curated by Daniella Ripple from Munich. Mounted on
>the dull mirrored surface of two hollow cylinders, the exhibits, which had
>beautiful shaded lighting, included, among other things, Nabokov's family
>photos, a map of their American travels, his famous index cards, books,
and,
>of course butterflies.
>
> The Nabokovs settled on the sixth floor of the hotel in 1962. ⌠Our
>quarters consist of several tiny rooms with two and a half bathrooms, the
>result of two apartments having been recently fused. The sequence is:
>kitchen, living-dining room, my wife▓s room, my room, a former kitchenette
>now full of my papers, and our son▓s former room, now converted into a
study.
> The apartment is cluttered with books, folders, and files. What might be
>termed rather grandly a library is a back room housing my published works,
>and there are shelves in the attic whose skylight is much frequented by
>pigeons and Alpine choughs.■(2) The sixth floor of the hotel, where the
>Nabokovs settled in 1962, now had been officially named "Nabokov's Floor".
>Displayed there was a beautiful 1967 photo of Nabokov by Philippe Halsman
and
>a memorial plaque:
>
>6Хme Etage
>Vladimir Nabokov
>Chambres
>60-69
>
> To quote the hotel: ⌠Nabokov considered ⌠his sixth floor■ as a private
>place. He received his visitors and friends at the Music lounge at
teatime.■
> (Other sources suggest that ⌠The Green Salon■ on the main floor was the
>meeting place)
>
> Each multi-star luxury hotel must have its own glossy magazine. The
>Montreux Palace Magazine was trilingual -- French, English, and Russian (I
>guess that when this issue was printed the super-rich new Russian guests
had
>probably not yet become the subject of close scrutiny by Swiss banking
>authorities). The magazine contained an article on Nabokov with lovely
>photographs by an unnamed photographer which I had never seen before rather
>than the well-known Nabokoviana photos.
>
> Nabokov loved the narrow park between the hotel and the lake, where
many
>trees exotic for Switzerland had been planted. In September 1965, Nabokov
>took for a walk in the park Robert Hughes, the Television 13 correspondent,
>and showed him the Sacred Tree: ⌠This is a ginkgo -- the sacred tree of
>China, now rare in the wild state. The curiously veined leaf resembles a
>butterfly which reminds me of a little poem:
>
>The gingko leaf, in golden hue, when shed,
> A muscat grape,
> Is an old-fashioned butterfly, ill-spread,
> In shape.
>This, in my novel Pale Fire, is a short poem by John Shade -- by far the
>greatest of invented poets.■(3)
>
> Montreux is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, which has a
different
>name in French: "Lac Leman." Nabokov called it "Lemanskoye ozero" in the
same
>letter to his sister. In season there are many butterflies around
Montreux.
>In April it was too cold still for real butterflies, but in the hotel park
>there were huge grass butterflies waiting for spring to blossom -- yet
>another tribute to the dweller who made the Montreux Palace famous. I
doubt,
>though, that Nabokov would have liked this intrusion of alien aesthetics in
>the park, which did not include anything unnecessary in 1906, as depicted
on
>a postcard from the time. Nabokov was not happy when a parking lot and an
>outdoor swimming pool were constructed in the park. Nabokov used the area
>around the pool, where sunbathers lounged on deck chairs: in Philippe
>Halsman's famous 1966 photo, strong, tanned handsome Nabokov stands smiling
>next to VИra, who is sitting in a canvas deck chair, also smiling, wearing
>the Lolita heart-shaped sunglasses given to her by Irving Lazar, Nabokov's
>Hollywood agent. Regarding the pool, he said during that 1965 walk with
>Robert Hughs while passing the swimming pool: ⌠I don▓t mind sharing sun
with
>sunbathers but I dislike immersing myself in a swimming pool. It is after
>all only a big tub where other people join you -- makes one think of those
>horrible Japanese communal bathtubs, full of a floating family, or a shoal
of
>businessmen.■ (3)
>
> About twenty minutes from Montreux is the small neighboring town of
>Clarens, where Vladimir and VИra Nabokov are buried in the local cemetery.
>The simple gray granite tombstone bears an inscription that states the main
>thing about Nabokov--that he was the Writer:
>
>Vladimir Nabokov
>Ecrivain 1899-1977
>Vera Nabokov
>1902-1991
>
> Blossoming flowers had been planted around the Nabokov's well-kept
>grave, and there were several vases of fresh flowers on the grave. Clearly
>people had visited the grave just recently. In February 1972, when Vogue
>correspondent asked Nabokov whether there was any truth in the rumor that
he
>was thinking of leaving Montreux forever, Nabokov answered: ⌠Well, there is
a
>rumor that sooner or later everybody living now in Montreux will leave it
>forever.■ (2)
>
> April 23rd, 1999, in Montreux was a clear day, a little windy. A warm
>rain had sprinkled in the late afternoon, and then the sun had come out
again
>for a short while. At that moment I photographed the still-wet Grand Rue
>from my balcony at the Montreux Palace.
>
> In the lobby of the ground floor was the statue of a
>knickerbokers-wearing Nabokov that had caused so much gossip. The statue
was
>the first joint work done by two Moscow sculptors, father and son,
Alexander
>and Philip Rukavishnikov. Alexander Rukavishnikov is a People's Artist of
>Russia (the highest official honor), an Academician of the Russian Academy
of
>Arts, a Professor, and the Head of Sculpture Workshop at the prestigious
>Surikov Higher Art School. He has sculpted several well-known monuments,
>including the monument to Dostoevsky at the Lenin Library in Moscow and a
>monument to Tatishchev, the founder of the city of Stavropol on the Volga
>(which used to have an Orwellian name of Togliatti, after the late Italian
>Communist Party leader Palmiro Togliatti, because Russian knock-off Fiat
was
>manufactured in this city). Rukavishnikov read all of Nabokov's novels
>written in Russian and considered Nabokov a great writer who had returned
the
>gift of the word to a nation consumed by novoyaz ("new lingo," a mongrel
>Russian developed in the Soviet era with many new words to describe new
>realities and further "enriched" by the unleashed post-perestroika invasion
>of the outside world). Rukavishnikov the younger, who speaks good English,
>read many Nabokov works both in Russian and in English and fell in love
with
>Nabokov's prose as a teenager, when his mother gave him Podvig (Glory).
>Father and son decided not to use the expected props of butterflies and the
>butterfly net; and as far as the knickerbockers go, wasn't this the garment
>that someone who closely evoked Nabokov wore on his return to Russia?
>
> This sculpture, which was going to be placed at the entrance to the
>Montreux Palace Hotel, was a gift, but a gift to the town of Montreux
rather
>then to the hotel, from Moscow and Muscovites, as announced in a letter
from
>Yuri Luzhkov, the short powerhouse of the Mayor of Moscow (nicknamed
"Atas,"
>for "Watch Out!"). In his letter, Yuri Luzhkov quoted what is probably the
>best-known Nabokov poem in Russia:
>
>⌠Amazing, though, that at the last indention,
>despite proofreaders and my age▓s ban,
>a Russian branch▓s shall be playing
> upon the marble of my hand.■
>
> The second part of this prophecy was embodied in bronze in the lobby of
>the Montreux Palace -- the first, but I am sure not the last monument to
>Nabokov. The Muscovites, though, wanted to go all the way to fulfilling
>Nabokov's prophecy. Ludmila Shvetsova, Mayor Luzhkov's representative (she
>has now been promoted very high, as I was informed recently) had appeared
at
>the opening ceremony with a huge basket of "Russian branches" such as field
>flowers and mountain ash berries to cast the appropriate shadow, thus
>distracting me from the solemn glory of the unveiling ceremony with a
mundane
>admiring question: How did she manage to get this Russian ikebana past the
>⌠plants and produce■ control at the Swiss customs?
>
> The Nabokov Celebration was organized by the Montreux Palace Hotel,
which
>explains its international and ceremonial overtones, noticeably different
>from the intellectual splendors of the New York Town Hall Pen Club Tribute,
>or Glenn Horowitz Booksellers party for Vera's Butterflies. The Montreux
>Palace ceremony speakers included His Excellency Ambassador Petrovsky, the
>Head of the European UN Department, the aforementioned Ludmila Shchvetsova
>from the Moscow Mayor Office, the Mayor of Montreux, and other no less
>important dignitaries. But this was not the whole story: Philip
>Rukavishnikov said clever things about the writer Vladimir Sirin, two very
>young ladies from St. Petersburg, a pianist and a violinist, played
>Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Venyavsky, and after the recital Dmitri
Nabokov
>unexpectedly and touchingly spoke about his mother. The Nabokovs' blissful
>marriage lasted for 52 years, and it was here, at the Montreux Palace, on
>April 15, 1975, that Nabokov drew on a simple sheet of paper a tender
>butterfly with half-opened wings and wrote under it: ⌠Here we are at last,
>my darling 15.iv.1925--15.iv.1975■ (4)
>
> After the official unveiling the hotel invited us in for cocktails.
The
>festive crowd included the aforementioned officials, rich art patrons, both
>New Russian and Western, publishers, Rukavishnikov's friends, several
>requisite well-groomed young beauties, and an occasional Nabokov scholar,
>such as Gavriel Shapiro or Lara Delage-Toriel. After that there was a
dinner
>at the famous hotel restaurant, and then we had Champagne at the bar.
After
>that the Rukavishnikovs invited us to toast the anniversary in the rooms
>where Nabokov lived for so many years -- the hotel had put the
Rukavishnikovs
>in the Vladimir Nabokov Chambers. The party was very lively, everyone
spoke
>all at once, Philip Rukavishnikov recited poetry. I was trying to imagine
>exactly how these rooms looked when Nabokov lived there.
>
> The hospitable Rukavishnikovs also invited everyone to the Vladimir
>Nabokov Chambers the next morning, to say good-bye as Russian custom
>requires, with ⌠pososhok■ (⌠one for the road■). I was happy to have a
chance
>to look out from Nabokov's balcony at the lake and snow-covered mountains
on
>the other, French side of the lake. This was the same balcony where
Nabokov
>was photographed by several excellent photographers, and, though no longer
>young, he looks exquisite in these photos. The morning after the Nabokov
>centenary was milky-gray. Fog rested on the snow-covered mountains that
>Nabokov used to sketch. It looked like it was going to rain, but I had to
go
>out because I wanted to see Nabokov's exhibition at the MusИe du Vieux
>Montreux.
>
> The museum was in an old building in the old part of the town. The
>Nabokov exhibition called ⌠Nabokov Ю Montreux: entre Иcriture et
papillions■
>(⌠Nabokov in Montreux: between writing and butterflies■) was on several
>floors. Visitors were greeted on the first floor by a video of the famous
>Nabokov interview with Bernard Pivot for the program "Apostrophes." Nearby
>on the wall was a haunting poster for the opera "Lolita" by Rodion
Shchedrin,
>which was staged at the Royal Swedish Opera. The libretto was in Swedish,
>due to copyright restrictions. The second floor had exhibits related to
VN's
>life in Montreux: stunning Horst Tappe photographs, VN's standing desk,
>furniture from his rooms at the Montreux Palace, Nabokov's books with the
>butterfly drawings he inscribed to the people closest to him. Also, there
>was a chess board for solving chess problems composed by Nabokov. The
third
>floor display showed VN's butterfly collections labeled ⌠La collection
>Nabokov du MusИe cantonal de zoologie■ (Nabokov▓s Collection at the Canton
>Zoological Museum).
>
> When asked the ⌠Why Montreux?■ question Nabokov mentioned one of the
>pleasant surprises that Montreux had in store for him: the view of the
lake,
>⌠wonderfully soothing and exhilarating according to my mood or mood of the
>lake■(3). Indeed, if you look at the lake from the Montreux Palace
balcony,
>the lake does surprise you because it can change from moment to moment. I
>brought back several rolls of film with just the view of the lake -- every
>time I looked at it, I had the urge to take the camera, and I did, because
>every time I thought I would never see such a beautiful light effect again.
>
> Answering the ⌠Montreux■ question, Nabokov also mentioned a
metaphorical
>"easy chair"(3). To understand this term better, I asked several Americans
>to describe "an easy chair," and those who do creative work invariably
agreed
>with me that it was a comfortable chair for reading and writing in, not
>lazing the days away. Nabokov moved into the Montreux Palace when he was
62.
> Many people who are this age decide that this is a good time to retire.
>Nabokov, though he mentioned ⌠the pleasant surprise of a metaphorical
sunset
>in charming surroundings■ (5), actually never stopped working and had big
>plans for the future. I think that for understanding the ⌠Nabokov and
>Montreux■ issue, the view of the ever-changing lake and never-changing
>Montreux is not the most important thing. It is probably enough to look at
>the ⌠Nabokov■ shelf in your bookcase at ⌠Pale Fire■ -- he finished this
novel
>in Montreux, ⌠Ada,■ ⌠Speak, Memory,■ ⌠Transparent Things,■ ⌠Look at the
>Harlequins!■ ⌠Lolita■ in Russian translated by Nabokov, then the superb
>translations that he edited there, such as, for example, ⌠The Gift,■ ⌠The
>Eye,■ ⌠The Defense,■ ⌠Despair,■ magic Russian stories and, of course,
⌠Strong
>Opinions.■ Hopefully, the excerpts from ⌠The Original of Laura■ will also
>appear on this shelf. Making sure that these books would be on our shelves
>was probably the main reason Nabokov lived in Montreux.
>
>(1) Perepiska s sestroi (⌠Correspondence with my sister■), Ardis, Ann
Arbor,
>1985.
>(2) Interview with Susan Morini, Vogue writer, February 3rd, 1972, ⌠Strong
>Opinions■
>(3) Interview with Robert Hughes , Television 13 , September, 1965, ⌠Strong
>Opinions■
>(4) Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977, edited by Dmitri Nabokov
>and Matthew J. Bruccoli.
>(5) Interview with Kurt Hoffman, Bayerischer Rundfunk, October 1971,
⌠Strong
>Opinions■
>
wrote about and photographed many of the Nabokov Centennial events that
took place in Europe and America. Her photographs may be seen on ZEMBLA.
The article below describes the VN centennial celebration in Montreux where
the Nabokovs spent their last years. NABOKV-L thanks Galya for this memento
on Nabokov's 101st birthday.
---------------------------
>This message was originally submitted by Gkorovina@AOL.COM to the NABOKV-L
list
>at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>
>APRIL 23, 1999, MONTREUX
>
> For the second time I came to Montreux on April 22nd, 1999.
>
> For the first time I was here ten years ago, when Russia was still
under
>the Soviet government. Every singly thing that was happening to me then
was
>equally unreal: I was in Switzerland, and I was there on a private
>invitation! (that is, I was NOT a member of a wary delegation with a rabid
>paranoiac leader and a program with a lavish dose of Lenin▓s memorial
places,
>or, failing that, Communist history places). I was in Switzerland, and I
was
>absolutely free and I could do anything I wanted, and I took a train to
>Montreux.. . . It was early September, there were tourists everywhere, and
>the streets of the town, the narrow park that stretched along Lake Geneva,
>even the Montreux Palace Hotel -- everything here belonged to them.
>Nabokov's memory was my private delight, and it seemed natural that I had
>nobody with whom to share it. Nabokov was an elite writer, and I had
ceased
>to be surprised that my Moscow friends knew his name much better than many
>foreigners I met in Moscow. Even the "Lolita" prompt did not necessarily
>evoke the name of her creator.
>
> In April 1999 I found everything changed. Montreux was celebrating the
>100th anniversary of its famous inhabitant, who had become a recognized
>classic of world literature by the end of the century. On my way to the
>hotel from the railway station (a 5-minute taxi ride at most), I noticed
>several beautiful posters with VN's 1967 photo by Horst Tappe and in large
>bold letters, "NABOKOV." Later, on closer inspection, I realized this was
>the MusИe du Vieux Montreux inviting the public to the special exhibition
in
>honor of Nabokov's centenary.
>
> Outwardly the Montreux Palace Hotel seemed completely unchanged. The
>Nabokovs moved there in 1961, and soon settled on the sixth floor in the
old,
>right wing of the hotel, which is called "Le Cygne" ("The Swan"), "v
>lebedinoi chasti" (in the swan part), as Nabokov inscribed on the floor
plan
>of their rooms in his letter to his sister Elena Sikorski(1). In his 1972
>interview for Vogue, Nabokov said: ⌠We dwell in the older part of the
Palace
>Hotel, in its original part really, which was all that existed a hundred
and
>fifty years ago (you can still see that initial inn and our future windows
in
>old prints of 1840 or so)■(2). The Hotel du Cygne■ wing, built in 1837, is
>connected by a passage to the main building, built in 1906.
>
> Inside, however, the most important feature of the Montreux Palace--its
>elegant anonymity--had changed. The hotel was celebrating the 100th
>anniversary of its most famous and loyal dweller. The Montreux Palace Hotel
>had had its share of famous guests who had stayed there for extended
periods
>of time, for example, Sarah Bernhardt and Richard Strauss, but none of them
>had made it their home for sixteen years. The magnificent lobby on the
>second floor was no longer imposing but rather was occupied by the
exhibition
>"Les yeux du papillon" curated by Daniella Ripple from Munich. Mounted on
>the dull mirrored surface of two hollow cylinders, the exhibits, which had
>beautiful shaded lighting, included, among other things, Nabokov's family
>photos, a map of their American travels, his famous index cards, books,
and,
>of course butterflies.
>
> The Nabokovs settled on the sixth floor of the hotel in 1962. ⌠Our
>quarters consist of several tiny rooms with two and a half bathrooms, the
>result of two apartments having been recently fused. The sequence is:
>kitchen, living-dining room, my wife▓s room, my room, a former kitchenette
>now full of my papers, and our son▓s former room, now converted into a
study.
> The apartment is cluttered with books, folders, and files. What might be
>termed rather grandly a library is a back room housing my published works,
>and there are shelves in the attic whose skylight is much frequented by
>pigeons and Alpine choughs.■(2) The sixth floor of the hotel, where the
>Nabokovs settled in 1962, now had been officially named "Nabokov's Floor".
>Displayed there was a beautiful 1967 photo of Nabokov by Philippe Halsman
and
>a memorial plaque:
>
>6Хme Etage
>Vladimir Nabokov
>Chambres
>60-69
>
> To quote the hotel: ⌠Nabokov considered ⌠his sixth floor■ as a private
>place. He received his visitors and friends at the Music lounge at
teatime.■
> (Other sources suggest that ⌠The Green Salon■ on the main floor was the
>meeting place)
>
> Each multi-star luxury hotel must have its own glossy magazine. The
>Montreux Palace Magazine was trilingual -- French, English, and Russian (I
>guess that when this issue was printed the super-rich new Russian guests
had
>probably not yet become the subject of close scrutiny by Swiss banking
>authorities). The magazine contained an article on Nabokov with lovely
>photographs by an unnamed photographer which I had never seen before rather
>than the well-known Nabokoviana photos.
>
> Nabokov loved the narrow park between the hotel and the lake, where
many
>trees exotic for Switzerland had been planted. In September 1965, Nabokov
>took for a walk in the park Robert Hughes, the Television 13 correspondent,
>and showed him the Sacred Tree: ⌠This is a ginkgo -- the sacred tree of
>China, now rare in the wild state. The curiously veined leaf resembles a
>butterfly which reminds me of a little poem:
>
>The gingko leaf, in golden hue, when shed,
> A muscat grape,
> Is an old-fashioned butterfly, ill-spread,
> In shape.
>This, in my novel Pale Fire, is a short poem by John Shade -- by far the
>greatest of invented poets.■(3)
>
> Montreux is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, which has a
different
>name in French: "Lac Leman." Nabokov called it "Lemanskoye ozero" in the
same
>letter to his sister. In season there are many butterflies around
Montreux.
>In April it was too cold still for real butterflies, but in the hotel park
>there were huge grass butterflies waiting for spring to blossom -- yet
>another tribute to the dweller who made the Montreux Palace famous. I
doubt,
>though, that Nabokov would have liked this intrusion of alien aesthetics in
>the park, which did not include anything unnecessary in 1906, as depicted
on
>a postcard from the time. Nabokov was not happy when a parking lot and an
>outdoor swimming pool were constructed in the park. Nabokov used the area
>around the pool, where sunbathers lounged on deck chairs: in Philippe
>Halsman's famous 1966 photo, strong, tanned handsome Nabokov stands smiling
>next to VИra, who is sitting in a canvas deck chair, also smiling, wearing
>the Lolita heart-shaped sunglasses given to her by Irving Lazar, Nabokov's
>Hollywood agent. Regarding the pool, he said during that 1965 walk with
>Robert Hughs while passing the swimming pool: ⌠I don▓t mind sharing sun
with
>sunbathers but I dislike immersing myself in a swimming pool. It is after
>all only a big tub where other people join you -- makes one think of those
>horrible Japanese communal bathtubs, full of a floating family, or a shoal
of
>businessmen.■ (3)
>
> About twenty minutes from Montreux is the small neighboring town of
>Clarens, where Vladimir and VИra Nabokov are buried in the local cemetery.
>The simple gray granite tombstone bears an inscription that states the main
>thing about Nabokov--that he was the Writer:
>
>Vladimir Nabokov
>Ecrivain 1899-1977
>Vera Nabokov
>1902-1991
>
> Blossoming flowers had been planted around the Nabokov's well-kept
>grave, and there were several vases of fresh flowers on the grave. Clearly
>people had visited the grave just recently. In February 1972, when Vogue
>correspondent asked Nabokov whether there was any truth in the rumor that
he
>was thinking of leaving Montreux forever, Nabokov answered: ⌠Well, there is
a
>rumor that sooner or later everybody living now in Montreux will leave it
>forever.■ (2)
>
> April 23rd, 1999, in Montreux was a clear day, a little windy. A warm
>rain had sprinkled in the late afternoon, and then the sun had come out
again
>for a short while. At that moment I photographed the still-wet Grand Rue
>from my balcony at the Montreux Palace.
>
> In the lobby of the ground floor was the statue of a
>knickerbokers-wearing Nabokov that had caused so much gossip. The statue
was
>the first joint work done by two Moscow sculptors, father and son,
Alexander
>and Philip Rukavishnikov. Alexander Rukavishnikov is a People's Artist of
>Russia (the highest official honor), an Academician of the Russian Academy
of
>Arts, a Professor, and the Head of Sculpture Workshop at the prestigious
>Surikov Higher Art School. He has sculpted several well-known monuments,
>including the monument to Dostoevsky at the Lenin Library in Moscow and a
>monument to Tatishchev, the founder of the city of Stavropol on the Volga
>(which used to have an Orwellian name of Togliatti, after the late Italian
>Communist Party leader Palmiro Togliatti, because Russian knock-off Fiat
was
>manufactured in this city). Rukavishnikov read all of Nabokov's novels
>written in Russian and considered Nabokov a great writer who had returned
the
>gift of the word to a nation consumed by novoyaz ("new lingo," a mongrel
>Russian developed in the Soviet era with many new words to describe new
>realities and further "enriched" by the unleashed post-perestroika invasion
>of the outside world). Rukavishnikov the younger, who speaks good English,
>read many Nabokov works both in Russian and in English and fell in love
with
>Nabokov's prose as a teenager, when his mother gave him Podvig (Glory).
>Father and son decided not to use the expected props of butterflies and the
>butterfly net; and as far as the knickerbockers go, wasn't this the garment
>that someone who closely evoked Nabokov wore on his return to Russia?
>
> This sculpture, which was going to be placed at the entrance to the
>Montreux Palace Hotel, was a gift, but a gift to the town of Montreux
rather
>then to the hotel, from Moscow and Muscovites, as announced in a letter
from
>Yuri Luzhkov, the short powerhouse of the Mayor of Moscow (nicknamed
"Atas,"
>for "Watch Out!"). In his letter, Yuri Luzhkov quoted what is probably the
>best-known Nabokov poem in Russia:
>
>⌠Amazing, though, that at the last indention,
>despite proofreaders and my age▓s ban,
>a Russian branch▓s shall be playing
> upon the marble of my hand.■
>
> The second part of this prophecy was embodied in bronze in the lobby of
>the Montreux Palace -- the first, but I am sure not the last monument to
>Nabokov. The Muscovites, though, wanted to go all the way to fulfilling
>Nabokov's prophecy. Ludmila Shvetsova, Mayor Luzhkov's representative (she
>has now been promoted very high, as I was informed recently) had appeared
at
>the opening ceremony with a huge basket of "Russian branches" such as field
>flowers and mountain ash berries to cast the appropriate shadow, thus
>distracting me from the solemn glory of the unveiling ceremony with a
mundane
>admiring question: How did she manage to get this Russian ikebana past the
>⌠plants and produce■ control at the Swiss customs?
>
> The Nabokov Celebration was organized by the Montreux Palace Hotel,
which
>explains its international and ceremonial overtones, noticeably different
>from the intellectual splendors of the New York Town Hall Pen Club Tribute,
>or Glenn Horowitz Booksellers party for Vera's Butterflies. The Montreux
>Palace ceremony speakers included His Excellency Ambassador Petrovsky, the
>Head of the European UN Department, the aforementioned Ludmila Shchvetsova
>from the Moscow Mayor Office, the Mayor of Montreux, and other no less
>important dignitaries. But this was not the whole story: Philip
>Rukavishnikov said clever things about the writer Vladimir Sirin, two very
>young ladies from St. Petersburg, a pianist and a violinist, played
>Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Venyavsky, and after the recital Dmitri
Nabokov
>unexpectedly and touchingly spoke about his mother. The Nabokovs' blissful
>marriage lasted for 52 years, and it was here, at the Montreux Palace, on
>April 15, 1975, that Nabokov drew on a simple sheet of paper a tender
>butterfly with half-opened wings and wrote under it: ⌠Here we are at last,
>my darling 15.iv.1925--15.iv.1975■ (4)
>
> After the official unveiling the hotel invited us in for cocktails.
The
>festive crowd included the aforementioned officials, rich art patrons, both
>New Russian and Western, publishers, Rukavishnikov's friends, several
>requisite well-groomed young beauties, and an occasional Nabokov scholar,
>such as Gavriel Shapiro or Lara Delage-Toriel. After that there was a
dinner
>at the famous hotel restaurant, and then we had Champagne at the bar.
After
>that the Rukavishnikovs invited us to toast the anniversary in the rooms
>where Nabokov lived for so many years -- the hotel had put the
Rukavishnikovs
>in the Vladimir Nabokov Chambers. The party was very lively, everyone
spoke
>all at once, Philip Rukavishnikov recited poetry. I was trying to imagine
>exactly how these rooms looked when Nabokov lived there.
>
> The hospitable Rukavishnikovs also invited everyone to the Vladimir
>Nabokov Chambers the next morning, to say good-bye as Russian custom
>requires, with ⌠pososhok■ (⌠one for the road■). I was happy to have a
chance
>to look out from Nabokov's balcony at the lake and snow-covered mountains
on
>the other, French side of the lake. This was the same balcony where
Nabokov
>was photographed by several excellent photographers, and, though no longer
>young, he looks exquisite in these photos. The morning after the Nabokov
>centenary was milky-gray. Fog rested on the snow-covered mountains that
>Nabokov used to sketch. It looked like it was going to rain, but I had to
go
>out because I wanted to see Nabokov's exhibition at the MusИe du Vieux
>Montreux.
>
> The museum was in an old building in the old part of the town. The
>Nabokov exhibition called ⌠Nabokov Ю Montreux: entre Иcriture et
papillions■
>(⌠Nabokov in Montreux: between writing and butterflies■) was on several
>floors. Visitors were greeted on the first floor by a video of the famous
>Nabokov interview with Bernard Pivot for the program "Apostrophes." Nearby
>on the wall was a haunting poster for the opera "Lolita" by Rodion
Shchedrin,
>which was staged at the Royal Swedish Opera. The libretto was in Swedish,
>due to copyright restrictions. The second floor had exhibits related to
VN's
>life in Montreux: stunning Horst Tappe photographs, VN's standing desk,
>furniture from his rooms at the Montreux Palace, Nabokov's books with the
>butterfly drawings he inscribed to the people closest to him. Also, there
>was a chess board for solving chess problems composed by Nabokov. The
third
>floor display showed VN's butterfly collections labeled ⌠La collection
>Nabokov du MusИe cantonal de zoologie■ (Nabokov▓s Collection at the Canton
>Zoological Museum).
>
> When asked the ⌠Why Montreux?■ question Nabokov mentioned one of the
>pleasant surprises that Montreux had in store for him: the view of the
lake,
>⌠wonderfully soothing and exhilarating according to my mood or mood of the
>lake■(3). Indeed, if you look at the lake from the Montreux Palace
balcony,
>the lake does surprise you because it can change from moment to moment. I
>brought back several rolls of film with just the view of the lake -- every
>time I looked at it, I had the urge to take the camera, and I did, because
>every time I thought I would never see such a beautiful light effect again.
>
> Answering the ⌠Montreux■ question, Nabokov also mentioned a
metaphorical
>"easy chair"(3). To understand this term better, I asked several Americans
>to describe "an easy chair," and those who do creative work invariably
agreed
>with me that it was a comfortable chair for reading and writing in, not
>lazing the days away. Nabokov moved into the Montreux Palace when he was
62.
> Many people who are this age decide that this is a good time to retire.
>Nabokov, though he mentioned ⌠the pleasant surprise of a metaphorical
sunset
>in charming surroundings■ (5), actually never stopped working and had big
>plans for the future. I think that for understanding the ⌠Nabokov and
>Montreux■ issue, the view of the ever-changing lake and never-changing
>Montreux is not the most important thing. It is probably enough to look at
>the ⌠Nabokov■ shelf in your bookcase at ⌠Pale Fire■ -- he finished this
novel
>in Montreux, ⌠Ada,■ ⌠Speak, Memory,■ ⌠Transparent Things,■ ⌠Look at the
>Harlequins!■ ⌠Lolita■ in Russian translated by Nabokov, then the superb
>translations that he edited there, such as, for example, ⌠The Gift,■ ⌠The
>Eye,■ ⌠The Defense,■ ⌠Despair,■ magic Russian stories and, of course,
⌠Strong
>Opinions.■ Hopefully, the excerpts from ⌠The Original of Laura■ will also
>appear on this shelf. Making sure that these books would be on our shelves
>was probably the main reason Nabokov lived in Montreux.
>
>(1) Perepiska s sestroi (⌠Correspondence with my sister■), Ardis, Ann
Arbor,
>1985.
>(2) Interview with Susan Morini, Vogue writer, February 3rd, 1972, ⌠Strong
>Opinions■
>(3) Interview with Robert Hughes , Television 13 , September, 1965, ⌠Strong
>Opinions■
>(4) Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977, edited by Dmitri Nabokov
>and Matthew J. Bruccoli.
>(5) Interview with Kurt Hoffman, Bayerischer Rundfunk, October 1971,
⌠Strong
>Opinions■
>