Subject
Re: VN & Sterne (fwd)
Date
Body
The starling passage occurs early in Volume ii of A Sentimental Journey,
in the chapter "The Passport: The Hotel de Paris" (pp 94-97 of the
Penguin paperback). Before he was the darling of the Russian formalists,
Sterne enjoyed great popularity in Russia -- just as he did in western
Europe -- during his own lifetime. Nabokov mentions him several times in
EO; Pushkin, he says, read French translations of his works and held
Tristram Shandy in very high regard (EO ii.305). Not sure whether
Nabokov himself would have read Sterne in French, Russian, or English,
but I've no doubt that he at least re-read Tristram Shandy & A
Sentimental Journey in the course of preparing his EO commentary.
Mary Bellino
iambe@javanet.com
in the chapter "The Passport: The Hotel de Paris" (pp 94-97 of the
Penguin paperback). Before he was the darling of the Russian formalists,
Sterne enjoyed great popularity in Russia -- just as he did in western
Europe -- during his own lifetime. Nabokov mentions him several times in
EO; Pushkin, he says, read French translations of his works and held
Tristram Shandy in very high regard (EO ii.305). Not sure whether
Nabokov himself would have read Sterne in French, Russian, or English,
but I've no doubt that he at least re-read Tristram Shandy & A
Sentimental Journey in the course of preparing his EO commentary.
Mary Bellino
iambe@javanet.com