[Dmitri Nabokov sends this reply to Jerry Friedman's request for
clarity about the source of the phrase "right old mess" that has been
ascribed to him. -- SES]
The unpleasantly quaint Anglicism "right old mess" has been slithering
in my wake ever since the Australian Broadcasting Corp "book talk" of
Feb. 15 cited a letter of mine, in which I half (but only half)
jocularly referred to a vision of my father authorizing me to conserve,
and publish, *The Original of Laura*. I employed a different locution.
DN