Subject
Fitzgerald & VN
Date
Body
Gene Barabtarlo and Galys Diment have recently commented on some rather
grotesque information about Fitzgerald cited by Updike in his NEW YORKER
review of the new Meyers' biography of F.S. Fitz. Fitzgerald's fascination
with mutilated bodies and the like, of course, triggered associations with
the young German mentioned in SpM who devoted his life to execution
memorabilia.
VN mentions another example in RLSKn. In Sebastian's study there
is, inter alia, "an enlarged snapshot of a Chinese stripped to the
waist, in the act of being vigorously beheaded." (It is juxtaposed with a
photo of a curly child playing with a puppy.) Nabokovian John de Moss has
passed on to me the source for this, albeit a copy from a later
publication than VN's immediate source. I have not seen this myself, but
those of you with macabre tastes and access to huge libraries might want
to check it out. Roland Villeneuve, LE MUSEE DE SUPPLICES (Henri Veyre,
Paris 1974), p. 75.
NABOKV-L looks forward to your reports. DBJ
grotesque information about Fitzgerald cited by Updike in his NEW YORKER
review of the new Meyers' biography of F.S. Fitz. Fitzgerald's fascination
with mutilated bodies and the like, of course, triggered associations with
the young German mentioned in SpM who devoted his life to execution
memorabilia.
VN mentions another example in RLSKn. In Sebastian's study there
is, inter alia, "an enlarged snapshot of a Chinese stripped to the
waist, in the act of being vigorously beheaded." (It is juxtaposed with a
photo of a curly child playing with a puppy.) Nabokovian John de Moss has
passed on to me the source for this, albeit a copy from a later
publication than VN's immediate source. I have not seen this myself, but
those of you with macabre tastes and access to huge libraries might want
to check it out. Roland Villeneuve, LE MUSEE DE SUPPLICES (Henri Veyre,
Paris 1974), p. 75.
NABOKV-L looks forward to your reports. DBJ