The Gay Nabokov (2000)

http://www.salon.com/2000/05/17/nabokov_5/

by georgecmu • 12 years ago

90 19 12 years ago

jimhefferon2• 12 years ago

Is the photo not available? Starting an article with a description of a photo is a bit of a letdown when you can't see the picture.

dmart• 12 years ago

I found this blog entry[0] where they've located the photo in question.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's available online anywhere in any sort of decent resolution.

[0]http://bookmendc.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-gay-nabokov.html

sp332• 12 years ago

A better one on this page http://elena-v-kuzmina.blogspot.com/2013/01/sergei-vladimiro... (it gets bigger if you click it)

prlambert• 12 years ago

Here: http://goo.gl/Cv2rNB

I pulled it from the article sp332 linked

jimhefferon2• 12 years ago

The figure in the back of that picture looks like it could have been pasted in?

camperman• 12 years ago

"Nabokov was fascinated by doubles, and his work is full of them — mirrors, twins, reflections, chance resemblances. Sergei was his brother’s double, a “shadow in the background,” as Nabokov put it."

I need to re-read Lolita in the light of this. I know that the book mocks the supposed connections between an author's experience and his work but I've always felt the Humbert-Quilty relationship to be a deeply personal one that the author drew on from somewhere.

soperj• 12 years ago

That was an incredibly well written, and researched article. Thanks for posting it.

agzam• 12 years ago

Good article, yes. However what the heck is it doing on hackernews?

dang• 12 years ago

Please re-read the HN guidelines. Anything interesting is on topic.

omonra5• 12 years ago

Very interesting article, but I do take exception to this sentence

"Vladimir was a confirmed homophobe, and his gay brother was a constant source of shame, confusion and regret to him."

It's a typical projection of moral standards of our age onto another. Someone is not a 'x-phobe' if they reflect the mores of the day (or simply don't share our views on the subject).

jedanbik3• 12 years ago

Words aren't projections. His brother was a homophobe because his attitudes towards his brother were homophobic.

omonra5• 12 years ago

Are you an insectophobe because you crush bugs? No - because our society doesn't have this concept.

By the same token, it's not correct to label Nabokov to label a homophobe for not sharing progressive attitudes of a society that came 100 years after.

Such labels are judgement calls - which must be made in the context of the society the person lived in.

The Gay Nabokov (2000)

Related Stories