Carolyn Kunin: Since I rarely know if anyone pays
attention to anything I send to the List, except on rare occasions when Jansy
gets her dander up, I will
remind you all that not terribly long ago I
posted information I uncovered regarding the contempt in which VN appeared to
hold BLP's 'Zhivago' (by the way, does anyone ever pronounce it
'Zhivavo'?).
Jansy Mello: Carolyn...des pellicules? Moi,
jamais! Please, include me out ( I had to look up "get the dander up" and
got to Samuel Godwin's folkloric pronouncements, competing with the idea of
cleansing the froth of indignation).
I wonder if Nabokov's critical appraisal of Dr.Zhivago.was moved
by Nobel envy. In B.Boyd's AY I came across a chapter in which BB
mentions the awards and honorary degress that were refused by Nabokov
(although BB was not very specific about them - actually, he was
uncommonly vague...).In my opinion VN was totally sure of his aesthetic
opinions and almost absolutist in his view about what art really is: he judged
writers and poets according to his own high standards. .Besides, a little envy
is not a dangerous thing..