A New Society Devoted to Vladimir Nabokov

« The Enchanted Researchers: French Vladimir Nabokov Society », was born in the spring of 2011, in the wake of a conference, Kaleidoscopic Nabokov, that had taken place at the Marc Bloch University of Strasbourg in October 2008 and had gathered together for the first time in France a gamut of French or French-speaking specialists of Nabokov’s work coming from either English, Russian or Comparatist areas of study. Encouraged by the success of this encounter, the community of researchers decided to found an organization that might readily support and broadcast the wealth and vitality of the research prompted by the writer’s œuvre within France and beyond. Presently based in the University of Strasbourg, our society hosts a colourful array of teachers and scholars, students, artists, writers, translators and passionate readers living in France and abroad.

Its Board is made up of Agnès Edel-Roy (president), Yannicke Chupin (vice-president), Michael Federspiel (vice-president), Marie Bouchet (vice-president and webmaster), Anne-Marie Lafont (secretary), Sophie Bernard-Léger (assistant secretary), Julie Loison-Charles (treasurer), and Jocelyne Wetzel-Picard (assistant treasurer). Maurice Couturier, France’s pioneering Nabokovian, acts as its honorary president.

The aims of our society as they appear in its founding statutes are the following :

·        to promote the study and knowledge of the life and works of Vladimir Nabokov;

·        to foster collaboration among researchers and specialists of Nabokov, notably from a transdisciplinary perspective, including the arts, sciences, translation, comparative, Russian and American literature studies;

·        to contribute to the circulation of scholarly publications on Nabokov, both by its members and by international researchers;

·        to develop artistic projects inspired by Nabokov;

·        to make Nabokov’s life and work better known by the general public.

The Enchanted Researchers’ first major project was an International Conference focusing on the various aspects of Nabokov’s relationship with France. This conference was held in Paris from 30th May to 1st June 2013. Its scholarly part took place at Sorbonne University and at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue d’Ulm. However, to offer this cultural event a broader audience, we organized  the last day of the conference at the BPI (Public Information Library) at the Centre Georges Pompidou.

The International Conference was followed by a Post-Graduate Conference held in May 2014 in Strasbourg (see "Manifestations").

Its next event will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the publication of Lolita in Paris (September 1955), in the form of an exhibition on the publication of the novel presented at the American Library in Paris (opening night on September 24, 2015), a Conference dedicated to the novel, and a play dramatizing Humbert's trial by the Italian Company , both latter events to take place at the University Paris Ouest-Nanterre / Théâtre Bernard-Marie Koltès, on September 25, 2015 (see "Actualités").

If you have any queries about our society and its activities, please get in touch with
Anne-Marie Lafont ( yannicke.chupin@vladimir-nabokov.orgCette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ) or Agnès Edel-Roy ( lara.delagetoriel@vladimir-nabokov.orgCette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ).