nabokov, america, salinger
denis jonnes (djengltl@mbox.nc.kyushu-u.ac.jp)
Tue, 30 Mar 1999 13:48:32 +0900
In checking through Brian Boyd's biography of Nabokov (trying to find
out when Nabokov became U.S. citizen), came across following which
might be of interest:
"Asked in a 1975 interview whom he most admired among current American
writers, (Nabokov) answered Edmund White (and Updike, and Salinger)" (p.
608)
Nabokov re himself and America: "America is my home now (...) It is my
country. The intellectual life suits me better than any other country
in the world. I have more friends there, more kindred souls than
anywhere" (a statement he seems to have made in the forties) (Boyd, p.
22).
Worth mentioning also perhaps is that Nabokov, like Salinger, was
writer for the New Yorker in the late forties and early fifties; and
that Nabokov published a collection of short fiction under the title
*Nine Stories* (!?!) with New Directions in December 1947 (Boyd, p.
126).
Have always felt there are affinities but surely somebody out there has
looked into the Salinger-Nabokov connection more thoroughly.
Denis Jonnes