Subject
Dmitri Nabokov on _DESPAIR_ SOURCE;
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. Phil Howerton with the help of Peter Kartsev has recently
advanced the proposal that VN, in part, based the plot of DESPAIR on a
1931 British murder case (Alfred Arthur Rouse).
---------- Forwarded message ----------
DN RESPONSE:
REGARDING PHIL HOWERTON'S PROPOSAL OF THE ROUSE STORY AS
INSPIRATION FOR _DESPAIR_: NOT ONLY IS IT JUST THE KIND OF
"COMBINATIONAL DELIGHT" THAT MIGHT WELL HAVE GIVEN VN A
NUDGE -- IN A MORE SPECIFIC WAY, SAY, THAN THE APE IN THE
JARDINS DES PLANTES DID FOR _THE ENCHANTER_ -- BUT THE
GENERAL CIRCUMSTANCES SEEM PLAUSIBLE AS WELL. ON THE
OTHER HAND, HERMANN DOES SEEM TO CONVINCE HIMSELF OF
THE RESEMBLANCE, AND BECOMES MORE OBSESSED THAN THE
CAROUSING ROUSE, BUT THAT'S COMBINATION. ESPECIALLY
SINCE THE THING SEEMS TO HAVE SET IN MOTION THE SUBDUED
HUM OF A LONG-AGO CONVERSATION WITH MY FATHER.
-----------------------------------
advanced the proposal that VN, in part, based the plot of DESPAIR on a
1931 British murder case (Alfred Arthur Rouse).
---------- Forwarded message ----------
DN RESPONSE:
REGARDING PHIL HOWERTON'S PROPOSAL OF THE ROUSE STORY AS
INSPIRATION FOR _DESPAIR_: NOT ONLY IS IT JUST THE KIND OF
"COMBINATIONAL DELIGHT" THAT MIGHT WELL HAVE GIVEN VN A
NUDGE -- IN A MORE SPECIFIC WAY, SAY, THAN THE APE IN THE
JARDINS DES PLANTES DID FOR _THE ENCHANTER_ -- BUT THE
GENERAL CIRCUMSTANCES SEEM PLAUSIBLE AS WELL. ON THE
OTHER HAND, HERMANN DOES SEEM TO CONVINCE HIMSELF OF
THE RESEMBLANCE, AND BECOMES MORE OBSESSED THAN THE
CAROUSING ROUSE, BUT THAT'S COMBINATION. ESPECIALLY
SINCE THE THING SEEMS TO HAVE SET IN MOTION THE SUBDUED
HUM OF A LONG-AGO CONVERSATION WITH MY FATHER.
-----------------------------------