Vladimir Nabokov / Photo: MN Archive

Nabokov▓s Son Rejects Report of Lolita Plagiarism

Created: 02.04.2004 14:26 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:12 MSK , 51 minutes ago

MosNews

The son of famous Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov has criticized media reports that Nabokov▓s best known novel, ⌠Lolita,■ was plagiarized from a 1916 novel by a German journalist Heinz von Eschwege, the Guardian newspaper wrote on Friday.

Michael Marr, a German literary scholar, suggested that a novella, Lolita, written in 1916 by Heinz von Eschwege, may have provided the foundations for the 1955 Nabokov novel. Von Eschwege, he discovered, wrote under the name Von Lichberg and became a noted journalist in the Third Reich. The 1916 Lolita features an affair between a middle aged man and a 12-year old girl, like Nabokov▓s novel. The pair have a passionate affair, then Lolita dies, breaking the older man▓s heart.

Dmitri Nabokov, the son of Vladimir, said in an email to a distinguished Nabokov critic, Dieter Zimmer, that the allegation was ⌠either a journalistic tempest in a teacup or a deliberate mystification■.

He called the 916 novel a ⌠short piece written by a journalist", and said that it ⌠appears to be junk■.

He added that said his father, who wrote in Russian, English and French, spoke ⌠practically no German■.

⌠Contrary to what a lot of hacks are saying, there are no similarities of name except for Lolita. The plot is one of the handful of basic plots on which all literature is based,■ Dmitri Nabokov writes in a letter to Guardian. He then asks for advice to help him ⌠quell this claptrap■.