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Nabokov Museum story (fwd)
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Date
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From: Earl Sampson <esampson@cu.campuscwix.net>
The following is forwarded from the Nabokov newsgroup alt.books.nabokov.
Jorn Barger wrote:
<URL:http://www.times.spb.ru/current/features/nabokov_2.htm>
Nabokov Museum Makes Its Name
By Barnaby Thompson Photo by Sergey Grachev
Vladimir Nabokov only ever had one place he could
definitively call
"home" - and only a very few people have any idea where it
is. In fact,
the great emigre writer spent his childhood at 49 Bolshaya
Morskaya,
just off St. Isaac's Square - all the other places where he
lived were
rented, and he died in a hotel. The lone family residence
might gain a
little more recognition, however, as the focus of the
current
international festival dedicated to the writer's 100th
birthday,
running through April 24.
Apartment museums dedicated to famous Russians abound in St.
Petersburg. Some of them are eminently forgettable - there
is only so
much interest to be derived from a collection of a poet's
pens. Others,
however, do convey a sense of the era in which the
celebrated occupant
lived - the "anti-formalist" polemics in Soviet newspapers
in the Anna
Akhmatova museum, for instance; or Osip Mandelshtamp's gulag
documents
at the same location.
The Nabokov Museum is trying something a little different.
"We can't
'compete' with the other apartment museums," says Zakhar
Fialkovsky,
deputy director of the museum for public relations, as he
gestures
towards the cracks in the ceiling and mentions the "terrible
toilet."
"So we are trying to turn the premises into a cultural
center. We hope,
for example, that the monospectacle performance of 'Lolita'
[given by
Leonid Mozgovy next Friday, April 23] will be the start of a
theatrical
project, either on Nabokovian themes or on those of the
writers he
liked. Or of those he couldn't stand, like [Fyodor]
Dostoevsky."
Rather than limiting the museum's exhibits to the personal
artifacts of
one of Russia's greatest authors, the management has it in
mind to
create something more than just a shrine.
"We have three main ideas," says Olga Voronina, deputy
director for the
museum. "First, to recreate the turn-of-the-century
aristocratic
childhood [that Nabokov endured]. Secondly, to bring in and
display
items from '40s and '50s America; and finally to focus on
Nabokov's
passions - chess, butterflies, tennis, soccer, literature.
..."
Future plans aside, the coming week has plenty to offer Na
bokov
acolytes. Nabokov expert Brian Boyd flies in from New Zea
land for a
lecture on Monday, while Frenchman Alex Bloc, vice
president of the
International PEN Club, presented his book "Vladimir Nabo
kov: A
Writer for all Seasons" on April 14. The festival has also
incorporated
the Lensoviet Theater's production of "King, Queen, Knave"
in the
program on Saturday.
Perhaps the most significant event will take place on
Nabokov's
birthday (which is Thursday), when - with the notable
exception of son
Dmitry - the relatives and descendants of Vladimir
Vladimirovich will
converge on St. Petersburg before moving off to a family
estate in Rozh
dest veno the next day. It could be the last time the
extended family
finds itself collected under one roof.
For those who really enjoy creeping around hallowed, dusty
premises and
admiring ancient tomes, however, the Nabokov Museum has hit
upon a gold
mine. Terry Mayers, an American engineer and Nabokov freak,
has donated
18 of his 30 or 40 first editions of Nabokov's works to the
museum,
including the first American edition of "Lolita," a first
edition of
"Mary" printed in Berlin, and an edition of "King, Queen,
Knave" in
which the author himself inscribed his poem "Butterflies."
At the
opposite extreme, the museum is planning the release of
t-shirts,
badges and mugs.
For a museum dedicated to a writer who has occupied a
deep-rooted place
in the Russian literary consciousness only since the
glasnost days,
developments such as these are invaluable. "Previously only
a very
narrow circle of people knew about the museum," says
Fialkovsky. "Now,
we know that we have a lot of friends."
For more information on the full program of the
International Nabokov
Festival, telephone 315-47-13.
(C)copyright The St. Petersburg Times 1999
The following is forwarded from the Nabokov newsgroup alt.books.nabokov.
Jorn Barger wrote:
<URL:http://www.times.spb.ru/current/features/nabokov_2.htm>
Nabokov Museum Makes Its Name
By Barnaby Thompson Photo by Sergey Grachev
Vladimir Nabokov only ever had one place he could
definitively call
"home" - and only a very few people have any idea where it
is. In fact,
the great emigre writer spent his childhood at 49 Bolshaya
Morskaya,
just off St. Isaac's Square - all the other places where he
lived were
rented, and he died in a hotel. The lone family residence
might gain a
little more recognition, however, as the focus of the
current
international festival dedicated to the writer's 100th
birthday,
running through April 24.
Apartment museums dedicated to famous Russians abound in St.
Petersburg. Some of them are eminently forgettable - there
is only so
much interest to be derived from a collection of a poet's
pens. Others,
however, do convey a sense of the era in which the
celebrated occupant
lived - the "anti-formalist" polemics in Soviet newspapers
in the Anna
Akhmatova museum, for instance; or Osip Mandelshtamp's gulag
documents
at the same location.
The Nabokov Museum is trying something a little different.
"We can't
'compete' with the other apartment museums," says Zakhar
Fialkovsky,
deputy director of the museum for public relations, as he
gestures
towards the cracks in the ceiling and mentions the "terrible
toilet."
"So we are trying to turn the premises into a cultural
center. We hope,
for example, that the monospectacle performance of 'Lolita'
[given by
Leonid Mozgovy next Friday, April 23] will be the start of a
theatrical
project, either on Nabokovian themes or on those of the
writers he
liked. Or of those he couldn't stand, like [Fyodor]
Dostoevsky."
Rather than limiting the museum's exhibits to the personal
artifacts of
one of Russia's greatest authors, the management has it in
mind to
create something more than just a shrine.
"We have three main ideas," says Olga Voronina, deputy
director for the
museum. "First, to recreate the turn-of-the-century
aristocratic
childhood [that Nabokov endured]. Secondly, to bring in and
display
items from '40s and '50s America; and finally to focus on
Nabokov's
passions - chess, butterflies, tennis, soccer, literature.
..."
Future plans aside, the coming week has plenty to offer Na
bokov
acolytes. Nabokov expert Brian Boyd flies in from New Zea
land for a
lecture on Monday, while Frenchman Alex Bloc, vice
president of the
International PEN Club, presented his book "Vladimir Nabo
kov: A
Writer for all Seasons" on April 14. The festival has also
incorporated
the Lensoviet Theater's production of "King, Queen, Knave"
in the
program on Saturday.
Perhaps the most significant event will take place on
Nabokov's
birthday (which is Thursday), when - with the notable
exception of son
Dmitry - the relatives and descendants of Vladimir
Vladimirovich will
converge on St. Petersburg before moving off to a family
estate in Rozh
dest veno the next day. It could be the last time the
extended family
finds itself collected under one roof.
For those who really enjoy creeping around hallowed, dusty
premises and
admiring ancient tomes, however, the Nabokov Museum has hit
upon a gold
mine. Terry Mayers, an American engineer and Nabokov freak,
has donated
18 of his 30 or 40 first editions of Nabokov's works to the
museum,
including the first American edition of "Lolita," a first
edition of
"Mary" printed in Berlin, and an edition of "King, Queen,
Knave" in
which the author himself inscribed his poem "Butterflies."
At the
opposite extreme, the museum is planning the release of
t-shirts,
badges and mugs.
For a museum dedicated to a writer who has occupied a
deep-rooted place
in the Russian literary consciousness only since the
glasnost days,
developments such as these are invaluable. "Previously only
a very
narrow circle of people knew about the museum," says
Fialkovsky. "Now,
we know that we have a lot of friends."
For more information on the full program of the
International Nabokov
Festival, telephone 315-47-13.
(C)copyright The St. Petersburg Times 1999