who said moderated discussions are boring?

[pynchonoid]

Date:	Tue, 22 Jul 2003 11:09:23 -0700
From:	"D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel at cox.net> 
Subject:	DN responds to his critics
To:	NABOKV-L at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU


----- Original Message ----- 
From: DMITRI NABOKOV 
To: 'D. Barton Johnson' 
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 1:37 PM
Subject: FW: update

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nabokov 
Sent: lundi, 21. juillet 2003 19:34
.
 
"Rita" (Mme. Margarita Meklin, I presume):  I had
absolutely no idea of Mr. Zver'ev's death when
I posted the message you refer to. The censorship of
death of course takes precedence over other
considerations, and I extend my profound condolences
to the family of the deceased. My opinions remain
another matter. As you can see, your insulting remarks
in my regard are utterly inappropriate. As for my
father, he, too, was a man of both compassion and
principle, and I do not think my presumption is
excessive if I suggest that he would have replied to
you in much the same way.
 
Mme. Walker: As you may know, I am capable of
expressing  myself in four languages to a high
academic standard. Sometimes, though, it is
the colorful American vernacular, sparingly used, that
can most accurately express my thoughts, particularly
about a certain kind of contemporary Russian. If
"scumbag" bothers your sensibilities a lot, consider
it expunged.
 
Mr. Iannarelli: I have a sneaking suspicion that your
motivation was less stupor at my outrage than
curiosity as to how I would respond. In any
case, thanks for making my day. I confess that when I
write on the very late cusp of two long days, I
sometimes overlook that not everyone on the List has
Russian or is conversant with the needed frame of
reference. To put things into a digestible capsule:
Mr. Mel'nikov's worst sin in my father's regard has
been to plagiarize, translate, and publish the entire
contents of Strong Opinions. This was a blatant
infringement of copyright even by Soviet standards,
since the interviews, essays, etc. that make up the
book, even if originally composed earlier, were
substantially revised by my father for inclusion in
the volume after the date in 1973 when the Soviet
Union adhered to the International
Copyright Convention. Not content with stealing,
Mel'nikov gnawed the hand out of which he was feeding
by garnishing his (very poor) translations with an
introduction and commentary laced with snide innuendo,
all of which is meticulously catalogued in a document
that will soon be made public at an appropriate time
and place. I could go on to other instances of
his deliberately insulting "literary criticism," some
of it posted on this forum not very long ago in
the guise of a review of Nabokov's lectures. I wish
you knew enough Russian to form your own opinion of
the publication currently under discussion.
    In a more ample context, let me remind you and
others that after the Bolshevik Revolution looted
everything Nabokov possessed -- and all those whe have
read him know that mansions, icons and samovars were
not the main losses -- the Perestroika publishers, as
soon as it became legal to read him, plundered his
literary estate, in both the material sense and the
artistic. Today, instead of taking pride in the modest
Nabokov Museum, the authorities continue to exact an
unaffordable rent from the largely
volunteer, self-sacrificing staff whose only mission
is to provide Russia and the world with a vestige of
Nabokov, the same Nabokov whom, officially,
they proudly acclaim as one of their own. Against such
a background of triple robbery Mel'nikov and his ilk,
having discovered that they will never write like
Nabokov, add the envious insult of innuendo to the
injury of depredation.
 
Mr. Selleck: Before you totally lose your cool, would
you kindly explain to whom on the List, and in what
way, I have done all those terrible things? Specifics,
please. And, pray tell, how did I, or could I, close
down a discussion of Charlie Chaplin, Communism, or
homosexuality? You've got your facts wrong, mister. 
It was Professor Johnson,
Moderator, who asked that further discussion of
politics be avoided, just as I was about to reply to a
crescendo of provocation from a participant whose
name I have not seen before or since, but whose
tone is suddenly evoked by a curious déjà vu. If I've
trodden on any personal toes, sorry.  But what 
"innocent" bibliography (see above)? And what steep
slope? and what homo (sapiens) have I attacked?
 
DN


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