Concerning Nabokov's attitude to German literature,
I just happened to come across an old and forgotten interview that has a very
explicit statement. After voicing his dislike for Thoman Mann and Albert
Schweitzer, the interviewer (Manfred George of "Der Aufbau", New York) asked him
if there was any German author he liked. "The answer came without the slightest
hesitation. 'Franz Kafka. But not the mystical image of Kafka that has been
erected by his friends but the real Kafka. I consider him one of the greatest
European authors of our time, and I can always read and reread works like or
'The Metamorphosis' or 'The Castle.' Well, and then... Hofmannsthal and of
course Goethe, several poems, a number of scenes from 'Faust'..." (Published in
"Die Zeit", April 17, 1959, p.6, retranslated into English by me).
Hofmannsthal was a surprise to me.
Dieter E. Zimmer, Berlin
March 26, 2003