Dear Readers of NABOKV-L:
It is with great pleasure that I announce the launch of the brand-new website dedicated to all matters related to Nabokov and titled The Nabokovian.
I want to take this opportunity thank the founders of the site, Stephen Blackwell, Brian Boyd, Dmitry Kirsanov and Zoran Kuzmanovich, for dedicating hundreds of hours to its construction.
The site contains many exciting and useful features for both scholars and admirers of Nabokov. Several scholars have already lent a big hand in making these features available. Steven Mihalik has generously agreed to serve as the editor of the Bibliography section of the site; Michael Juliar, Julie Loison-Charles, and Tatiana Ponomareva have already offered to lend Steven their assistance. We are still in search of two Nabokovians to lend similar assistance with bibliographic materials originating in Japan and Eastern Europe respectively.
The new site contains a Discussion Forum that will replace the longstanding NABOKV-L. As most of you know, NABOKV-L has been riddled with technical problems during the past several years. The new Forum (under the DISCUSSION button of the new site) will continue circulating members’ queries, discoveries, and opinions in the same spirit as the former list serve. Alexey Sklyarenko’s posts will appear separately on the site and his former posts will be archived in a special location on the new site.
Registered users to the site will be able to contribute, Wiki-style, to all of the material on the site. Contributors to the study of Nabokov are invited to add their own names and an autobiographical profile to the existing list of “Nabokovians.” Contributors are also invited to add the names of other Nabokovians and fill in the profiles of existing names. Please keep these profiles centered on Nabokov. Though many Nabokovians have made significant contributions to other areas of research, this site is intended to focus on Nabokov.
Some parts of the site will be open to everyone, some will be open only to those who register to the site, and still others will be accessible to those who pay the annual membership to the International Vladimir Nabokov Society (IVNS). Therefore, this message is also meant to invite you to renew your IVNS memberships today or at your earliest convenience.
IVNS MEMBERS: Paying members of the IVNS are entitled to see on this website the following restricted pages:
a) the Annotations to Nabokov's works, including Brian Boyd's new instalments to "Annotations to Ada" for eight months before they appear on AdaOnline
b) the content of all issues of the print Nabokovian (1978-2015)
c) the Notes and Brief Commentaries of the online 2018- continuation of the print Nabokovian
d) access to Nabokov Studies (1994- ) for members who do not have access to it through their institutions
e) participate in IVNS activities, such as sponsored conferences and conference panels
REGISTRANTS TO THE SITE: Non-paying registrants to the site will be able to post messages to the Discussion Forum that replaces Nabokv-L (the Nabokov list serve established in 1993 by Don Barton Johnson). Old discussions on Nabokv-L have been migrated to the new site and will be quickly searchable to registered users. Registered users will also have access to materials such as bibliographies and select publications. They will also have Wiki-style editing privileges to the site. Registrants are to register using their own identifiable and verifiable names. Aliases will not be accepted.
NON-REGISTERED USERS: Anonymous non-registered users will have access to the open materials, but no editing privileges.
IVNS memberships run for the calendar year and expire on December 31, regardless of when they are purchased. The rates are 20 USD for regular members, and 10 USD for students and retired members. Financial hardship qualifies members for a reduced membership rate of 10 USD. Membership fees may be waived entirely in particular cases by writing to the IVNS Treasurer, Stephen Blackwell (sblackwe@utk.edu), to request sponsorship.
Although an enormous amount of work has already been completed by the site’s founding members, the site is a vast undertaking and continues to be a work-in-progress. It will grow as member contributions grow. Now that it is officially launched, it becomes a collective effort on behalf of Nabokovians worldwide. In order to make the site a truly international project, please circulate this letter to individuals and groups that have an interest in Nabokov.
I now invite you to view the newly launched site here:
With best wishes to all,
Dana Dragunoiu
General Editor of TheNabokovian.org
Dr. Dana Dragunoiu, Associate Professor
Department of English Language and Literature
Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
1812 Dunton Tower
Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6
CANADA
Email: dana.dragunoiu@carleton.ca
Phone: 613-520-2600, ext. 1556