September 18, 1956

Cunard Line R.M.S. "Queen Mary"

Dear Volodya: I have been reading the correspondence of Merimee and Turgenev-Une Amitie Litteraire (Hachette, 1952). It turns out that you were mistaken in assuming that Merimee knew no Russian, had his translations fed him by some lady. He was coached by Turgenev for over ten years. He ( Read more... )

Do you know how Stevenson's work was inhibited and censored by his wife, who was an absolute Tartar, and how she and some of his friends worked up for him, after his death, a bogus sentimental personality? It seems that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was not originally a moral parable, but a much more detached affair, in which Mr. Hyde was presented more ( Read more... )

Цинциннат понемножку перестал следить за собой вовсе, - и однажды, на каком-то открытом собрании в городском парке, вдруг пробежала тревога, и один произнес громким голосом: «Горожане, между нами находится...» - тут последовало страшное, почти забытое слово, - и налетел ветер на акации, - и Цинциннат не нашел ничего лучше, как встать и удалиться, ( Read more... )

из письма Набокова-Уилсону

February 16, 1946

I have named a new butterfly vandeleuri in honour of Vandeleur alias Stapleton the villainous entomologist of the story

THE NEW YORKER ( Read more... )