There are two things I would change about Vladimir Nabokov's career, if I could: I'd make sure he left behind a complete "The Original of Laura," and a book of "Lectures on American Literature," with great generous readings of Melville, Hawthorne, and Thoreau.

I finished reading Thoreau's "Walden" this morning, and so very often Nabokov came to mind -- not so much in Thoreau's character (smug, prickly, self-righteous) as in his shimmering, glorious writing style, and his attentiveness to both the specific details of nature and their rich metaphoric capacity. Prose of genius, it goes without saying. I dimly recall from Boyd's bio that Nabokov enjoyed Thoreau -- did he leave behind any particular notes or comments?

Rodney Welch
Columbia, SC