Subject
vncollation (Sept. 1995)
Date
Body
Another collation--this one covers June, July and August of
1995. I would like to publicly thank Andrey Ustinov for his
assistance in compiling these materials. A collection
of Nabokov citations on the Internet is now under production.
The anecdotes below were gathered from an international
selection of newspapers and magazines.
******************************************************
Scanning the pages of the newspapers for Nabokov's name
has been confounded by the appearance of Dimitri Nabokov, a
young hockey player from Moscow, whose prowess on ice has
made him the number 1 draft choice of the Chicago Hawks.
Only one reporter made the connection between the novelist
and the hockey player uniting the two this way:
No. 1 draft choice says heAEs not related to the great
Russian novelist,but in his own way Dimitri Nabokov is as
precocious as his namesake Vladimir's most famous character, Lolita.
-------------------------------
The Daily Mirror on July 7, 1995 ran this headline:
HUGH LOSES LOLITA; PROSTITUTE INCIDENT
LOSES HUGH GRANT LOLITA FILM ROLE
Apparently Hugh Grant was being considered for the role of
Humbert which Jeremy Irons is now slated to
play. But Hugh Grant's connection to Nabokov is deeper...
Alison Pearson reports:
...a friend of Hugh Grants...told me something strange.
Wherever Hugh went, the friend said, he took the novels of
Vladimir Nabokov. Hugh was a Nabokov nut...
--------------------------------------
Several books have appeared in the last few months in which
Nabokov is either featured or noted:
Weidenfeld, George _Remembering my Good Friends_
(London : Harper Collins Publishers, c1994. )
The reviewer said that the book:...sparkles Lures-like throughout with
such gossipy glimpses. Chums like Vladimir Nabokov....
-------------------------------
Mitgang, Herbert _Words Still Count With Me: A Chronicle of
Literary Conversations. Norton (300 pp.) $ 25.00 Sept. 1995
These uniformly short and personable interviews
(typically without any agenda) are more simply
conversations. Nabokov and Beckett, for instance,
refused to be quoted but talked so affably, the encounters
resulted nonetheless in lively portraits. ...
-----------------------------------------
The author of a much praised biography of Antoine de
Saint-Exupery (The Little Prince) has
submitted a proposal and, according to the newpaper
account, received a hefty six-figure advance for
her next book - a biography of Vera Nabokov.
Stacy Schiff was born in 1960 in Adams, Mass. Her mother
was a French teacher, her father a
businessman. She attended Andover, graduated from Williams
college and majored in philosophy and art
history. After graduation she became an editor,
successively for Viking Press, Poseidon Books, and
Pocket Books.
In 1990, she left her editor's job, married a Frenchman,
and settled down to a life of writing books and raising
children.... Now, she is working on a biography of Vera
Nabokov, wifeof Russian author Vladimir Nabokov, who
was "...something of a behind-the-scenes powerhouse
herself," Schiff says.
-------------------------------------------------------
By now it is common knowledge that Dominique Swain has
been selected to play Lolita in Adrian Lyne's $30-million
remake of the film. The Los Angeles Times article of July
14, 1995 describes her as o...a giggly, 14-year-old
sophomore-to-be at Malibu High Schooloe who was the one
actress in 2500 capable of portraying LyneAEs version of
the teen seductress.
I saw literally thousands of girls from the nationwide
search, some as old as twenty-six, and none panned out,"
said Lyne. "I was actually in London when I was sent
Dominique's tape. I was listening to the dialogue and
I couldn't figure out which version of the script she was
reading. And then I realized she was reading dialogue from
the novel, Nabokov's words, which I found very
interesting."
"The thing about Dominique is that she is fresh and a bit
eccentric," Lynesaid. "In repose, she had that natural
sort of squishy, rubber face that kids do with their
expressions. She just had an amazing quality that is hard
to pin down."
Discussing her first screen test with Lynne, Dominique recalled -- "I was
there four days and I remember there wasn't any mouthwash in the
hotel".....an obvious drawback for a girl with retainers, which happened
to be one of the key attractions for Lyne. "I want Dominique to wear her
retainers in the film. It adds a certain charm, particularly when she
clicks them at Humbert to annoy him."
The film script was attempted by David Mamet, James Deardon
and Harold Pinter. The final script was
written by Steven Schiff, a staff writer for _The New
Yorker_.
[In the "What are they doing Now" category of celebrity profile,
Sue Lyon whose career was not assisted by her role as Lolita, was married
four times, one of whom was a convicted murderer in the Colorado State
Penitentiary. Now 49, she lives quietly in the Hollywood Hills.]
Richard Zanuck, the film's producer, when asked if he
thought that there might be some public concern
over the subject matter of the film, said...
"This is one of the great pieces of literature, ... [It]
is the story of a man who finds himself in a
desperate situation. At times it is very funny and very
sad."
-----------------------------------
A not especially interesting article in the September issue of Harper's
Bazaar is titled "Lolitas On-line" "discusses teenage girls who use the
Internet to atttract older men.
Suellen Stringer-Hye
Special Collections
Jean and Alexander Heard Library
Vanderbilt University
stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu
1995. I would like to publicly thank Andrey Ustinov for his
assistance in compiling these materials. A collection
of Nabokov citations on the Internet is now under production.
The anecdotes below were gathered from an international
selection of newspapers and magazines.
******************************************************
Scanning the pages of the newspapers for Nabokov's name
has been confounded by the appearance of Dimitri Nabokov, a
young hockey player from Moscow, whose prowess on ice has
made him the number 1 draft choice of the Chicago Hawks.
Only one reporter made the connection between the novelist
and the hockey player uniting the two this way:
No. 1 draft choice says heAEs not related to the great
Russian novelist,but in his own way Dimitri Nabokov is as
precocious as his namesake Vladimir's most famous character, Lolita.
-------------------------------
The Daily Mirror on July 7, 1995 ran this headline:
HUGH LOSES LOLITA; PROSTITUTE INCIDENT
LOSES HUGH GRANT LOLITA FILM ROLE
Apparently Hugh Grant was being considered for the role of
Humbert which Jeremy Irons is now slated to
play. But Hugh Grant's connection to Nabokov is deeper...
Alison Pearson reports:
...a friend of Hugh Grants...told me something strange.
Wherever Hugh went, the friend said, he took the novels of
Vladimir Nabokov. Hugh was a Nabokov nut...
--------------------------------------
Several books have appeared in the last few months in which
Nabokov is either featured or noted:
Weidenfeld, George _Remembering my Good Friends_
(London : Harper Collins Publishers, c1994. )
The reviewer said that the book:...sparkles Lures-like throughout with
such gossipy glimpses. Chums like Vladimir Nabokov....
-------------------------------
Mitgang, Herbert _Words Still Count With Me: A Chronicle of
Literary Conversations. Norton (300 pp.) $ 25.00 Sept. 1995
These uniformly short and personable interviews
(typically without any agenda) are more simply
conversations. Nabokov and Beckett, for instance,
refused to be quoted but talked so affably, the encounters
resulted nonetheless in lively portraits. ...
-----------------------------------------
The author of a much praised biography of Antoine de
Saint-Exupery (The Little Prince) has
submitted a proposal and, according to the newpaper
account, received a hefty six-figure advance for
her next book - a biography of Vera Nabokov.
Stacy Schiff was born in 1960 in Adams, Mass. Her mother
was a French teacher, her father a
businessman. She attended Andover, graduated from Williams
college and majored in philosophy and art
history. After graduation she became an editor,
successively for Viking Press, Poseidon Books, and
Pocket Books.
In 1990, she left her editor's job, married a Frenchman,
and settled down to a life of writing books and raising
children.... Now, she is working on a biography of Vera
Nabokov, wifeof Russian author Vladimir Nabokov, who
was "...something of a behind-the-scenes powerhouse
herself," Schiff says.
-------------------------------------------------------
By now it is common knowledge that Dominique Swain has
been selected to play Lolita in Adrian Lyne's $30-million
remake of the film. The Los Angeles Times article of July
14, 1995 describes her as o...a giggly, 14-year-old
sophomore-to-be at Malibu High Schooloe who was the one
actress in 2500 capable of portraying LyneAEs version of
the teen seductress.
I saw literally thousands of girls from the nationwide
search, some as old as twenty-six, and none panned out,"
said Lyne. "I was actually in London when I was sent
Dominique's tape. I was listening to the dialogue and
I couldn't figure out which version of the script she was
reading. And then I realized she was reading dialogue from
the novel, Nabokov's words, which I found very
interesting."
"The thing about Dominique is that she is fresh and a bit
eccentric," Lynesaid. "In repose, she had that natural
sort of squishy, rubber face that kids do with their
expressions. She just had an amazing quality that is hard
to pin down."
Discussing her first screen test with Lynne, Dominique recalled -- "I was
there four days and I remember there wasn't any mouthwash in the
hotel".....an obvious drawback for a girl with retainers, which happened
to be one of the key attractions for Lyne. "I want Dominique to wear her
retainers in the film. It adds a certain charm, particularly when she
clicks them at Humbert to annoy him."
The film script was attempted by David Mamet, James Deardon
and Harold Pinter. The final script was
written by Steven Schiff, a staff writer for _The New
Yorker_.
[In the "What are they doing Now" category of celebrity profile,
Sue Lyon whose career was not assisted by her role as Lolita, was married
four times, one of whom was a convicted murderer in the Colorado State
Penitentiary. Now 49, she lives quietly in the Hollywood Hills.]
Richard Zanuck, the film's producer, when asked if he
thought that there might be some public concern
over the subject matter of the film, said...
"This is one of the great pieces of literature, ... [It]
is the story of a man who finds himself in a
desperate situation. At times it is very funny and very
sad."
-----------------------------------
A not especially interesting article in the September issue of Harper's
Bazaar is titled "Lolitas On-line" "discusses teenage girls who use the
Internet to atttract older men.
Suellen Stringer-Hye
Special Collections
Jean and Alexander Heard Library
Vanderbilt University
stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu