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The Gay Nabokov (2000)
- jimhefferon 12y agoIs 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 12y agoI 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 http://bookmendc.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-gay-nabokov.html
- sp332 12y agoA better one on this page http://elena-v-kuzmina.blogspot.com/2013/01/sergei-vladimirovich-nabokov-12051900.html http://elena-v-kuzmina.blogspot.com/2013/01/sergei-vladimiro... (it gets bigger if you click it)
- prlambert 12y agoHere: http://goo.gl/Cv2rNB http://goo.gl/Cv2rNB I pulled it from the article sp332 linked
- jimhefferon 12y agoThe figure in the back of that picture looks like it could have been pasted in?
- camperman 12y 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 12y agoThat was an incredibly well written, and researched article. Thanks for posting it.
- agzam 12y agoGood article, yes. However what the heck is it doing on hackernews?
- dang 12y agoPlease re-read the HN guidelines. Anything interesting is on topic.
- omonra 12y agoVery 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).
- jedanbik 12y agoWords aren't projections. His brother was a homophobe because his attitudes towards his brother were homophobic.
- omonra 12y agoAre 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.
- jedanbik 12y agoWhat word would be more appropriate than homophobe here? I know it's fun to argue, but what is your point?
- omonra 12y agoThe word homophobe implies that his views were more extreme toward homosexuals than majority of his class - which is simply untrue. If you want, you could say 'his views, while progressive at the time, would be considered homophobic by the standards of 2014'.
- jedanbik 12y agoI'm fine with using the word homophobia to describe homophobia. Just because most people were something doesn't mean they weren't that something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman