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Dmitri Nabokov
Mar. 1st, 2012 10:34 amDmitri Nabokov, Vladimir Nabokov's only son, passed away last Wednesday at the age of 77. My Nabokov professor was good friends with Dmitri as it turns out, so he spent some time in class yesterday telling us anecdotes that Dmitri had passed on to him (as well as a few he got from Vera, VN's widow).
It was... rather shocking, to find out that Dmitri died, and more upsetting than I would have expected, and it is such a strange privilege to have shared this earth, at least for a while, with the son of the greatest author in my estimation -- the son who, one should know, worked with the father to translate his Russian works into English (as well as into other languages; he was multilingual like his father). I finished reading Invitation to a Beheading over the weekend, which Dmitri translated himself, and his mastery of the language (combined with the elder Nabokov's mastery of the novel) inspires the keenest of thrills.
Brian Boyd, the prominent Nabokov expert, wrote an obituary for The Guardian which I recommend.
It was... rather shocking, to find out that Dmitri died, and more upsetting than I would have expected, and it is such a strange privilege to have shared this earth, at least for a while, with the son of the greatest author in my estimation -- the son who, one should know, worked with the father to translate his Russian works into English (as well as into other languages; he was multilingual like his father). I finished reading Invitation to a Beheading over the weekend, which Dmitri translated himself, and his mastery of the language (combined with the elder Nabokov's mastery of the novel) inspires the keenest of thrills.
Brian Boyd, the prominent Nabokov expert, wrote an obituary for The Guardian which I recommend.
