In a message dated 2/22/2011 12:15:13 PM Central Standard Time, nnyhav@HOTMAIL.COM writes:
As Jeffrey Meyers put it: "Pale Fire reveals how profoundly Nabokov identified with the character of Samuel Johnson."
Too much of a ramble to repost on the list, with all the embedded links, but I trust it will be of interest.
It is my hope that this opens the door to more serious scholarship on Johnson's influence on Nabokov.
And I look forward to Karshan's "Vladimir Nabokov and the Art of Play".
As a man who lived with an unabridged dictionary (and made good use of it) there's no doubt why, on at least on level, VN revered the great lexicographer. But on another level, please note that the epigraph to PF is not from Johnson but from Boswell. Shade is to Kinbote as Johnson was to Boswell. So there are many reasons why comparisons are apt, not the least of which is Johnson's fascination with Savage and friendship with Smart.
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