The quote is correct. It is from the first
page of the first interview in "Strong Opinions" (p. 3 of the book): "My
loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My
pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting." The
interview was made on June 5, 1962, when Nabokov and his wife arrived in New
York on the "Queen Elizabeth" for the premiere of Kubrick's "Lolita" film. The
interviewers were four anonymous journalists, presumably from four different
newspapers. Nabokov's answers sound as if he had handed them questions as well
as answers in written form; the manuscript is at the Berg Collection. Excerpts
were published by "Newsweek", June 25, 1962, pp.
51–54.
In October 1964, Nabokov began to draw
up a list of his "Favourite Hates" (holograph at the Berg Collection). It
includes 26 items; many of them were used in various interviews. The foremost
one is "Background music... inflicted music of any kind." The complete list is
to be published in the forthcoming sequel volume to "Strong Opinions," to be
published next spring by Rowohlt, as volume 21 of Nabokov's collected works, in
German.
Dieter E.
Zimmer
Berlin, October 23, 2003 --
8:45am