Nabokov’s ‘great gay ic novel’ - TLS

Contents:

• NABOKOV’S ‘PALE FIRE’ IS ‘THE GREAT GAY COMIC NOVEL’, ARGU EDMUND WHE
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
• FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• PALE FIRE, COLD WARA NEW LERARY BGRAPHY OF THE LOLA THOR ARGU THAT HIS MOST ENIGMATIC NOVEL IS A SLY MENTARY ON THE COLD WAR, WR MICHAEL WEISS.MICHAEL WEISSCONTRIBUTG EDORUPDATED JUL. 11, 2017 6:27PM EDT / PUBLISHED OCT. 13, 2013 4:45AM EDT HORST TAPPE/GETTY,HORST TAPPEAS EDWARD SNOWN SAT WEIGHG HIS FORTUN THE TRANS ZONE OF SHEREMETYEVO AIRPORT LAST JULY, A MAN LLED ANTON BAKOV CREATED A MOR NEWS EM RSIA FOR OFFERG TO BTOW A SGULAR FORM OF ASYLUM ON THE FUGIVE NSA NTRACTOR. AS , A RSIAN NEWS AGENCY, PUT , BAKOV IS A “URALS GENI OF POLIL CREATIVY... WHO HAS PROCLAIMED HIMSELF PRIME MISTER OF THE RSIAN EMPIRE OF THE NORTH POLE AND ANTARCTI,” A UNTRY THAT “DO NOT HAVE DIPLOMATIC RELATNS WH ANY STATE OR, ACRDG TO BAKOV, NEED THEM.” IT IS “OPEN TO RSIANS BUT FOR VAR REASONS NOT CLUD WH NTEMPORARY RSIA.” ONE REASON MIGHT BE THAT THE UNTRY DO NOT ACTUALLY EXIST ON ANY MAP. IT’S THE PRODUCT OF THE PRIME MISTER’S OWN MD AND ONLY REPRENTED ON AN TRIGUG WEBSE WHERE THE CUR WILL DISVER THAT THE RSIAN EMPIRE, GEOGRAPHILLY SUATED THE NONNTIGUO REGNS OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH POL, IS A NSTUTNAL MONARCHY MEANT TO BE THE “SUCCSOR” TO THE GREAT DOMN ONCE LED BY PETER THE GREAT. THERE’S EVEN A STAR WARS-THEMED PROMOTNAL VIO. SADLY, THE ONE RSIAN WHO WOULD HAVE LIGHTED MOST THIS FANTASY, PARTICULARLY THE WAY WHICH MANIC VENTN BLEEDS TO TERNATNAL POLICS, IS A ST. PETERSBURG GENI OF LERARY CREATIVY WHO’S BEEN AD FOR 36 YEARS.IN PALE FIRE, VLADIMIR NABOKOV VED HIS REAR TO QUTN THE RELIABILY AND SANY OF HIS NARRATOR, CHARL KBOTE, THE SELF-SCRIBED EXILED KG OF A LAND LLED ZEMBLA WHO HAS CLAIMED THE ROLE OF ANNOTATOR OF A AD POET’S FAL MASTERPIECE, WHICH KBOTE HAS STOLEN.ALL OF NABOKOV’S NOVELS FEATURE WHAT HE LLED “PLUMS” BUT MIGHT ALSO BE THOUGHT OF AS EASTER EGGS: HIDN ALLNS OR JOK OR LEGENDS FOR WORKG OUT WHAT WAS THAT THE GREAT RSIAN HAD MD WH THE E OF A DATE, A NAME, OR A METAPHOR. NOTHG NABOKOV IS EVER WASTED, YET MUCH N BE MISSED, PECIALLY UPON THE FIRST READG, WHICH IS WHY HE THOUGHT THAT BOOKS ULD ONLY BE “RE-READ.” FOR STANCE, HOW MANY WILL HAVE NOTICED THAT A SCIENTIST NAMED SIG LEYMANSKI, WH HIS “ANAGRAM-LOOKG NAME,” FEATURED A SCIENCE FICTN STORY NTAED WH ADA, OR ARDOR, ONE OF THE LATER, LONGER NOVELS, IS -SCRAMBLED AS KGSLEY AMIS? AND LEYMANSKI’S CHARACTER, WE’RE FURTHER RMED, IS RIVED PART OM THE HAMFISTEDLY NAMED “DR. FROID,” A FIGURE MENTNED PASSG ADA PROPER. WE KNOW THAT THE VENTOR OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, THAT “VIENNE WCHDOCTOR,” RANKED ONLY WH DOSTOEVSKY THE NABOKOVIAN TALOGUE OF IC TELLECTUAL OR LERARY HORRORS. SO THIS IS HOW THE OLD VIL TOOK OBLIQUE REVENGE ON AMIS’S REVIEW OF LOLA, A PAN JTIFIED BY THE BOOK’S FUNDAMENTAL FLAW THAT “SO FAR OM BEG TOO PORNOGRAPHIC, IS NOT PORNOGRAPHIC ENOUGH.” KGSLEY’S SON MART, HIMSELF A FLAME-TENR OF VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH, ONCE SCRIBED FNEGANS WAKE AS “700-PAGE CROSSWORD CLUE AND THE ANSWER IS ‘THE.’” THAT EASILY MAK PALE FIRE ADVANCED SUDOKU, ONLY WH NO DISCERNIBLE ANSWER OR EVEN A FIVE PROOF OF S OWN FICTIVE REALY. CRICS HAVE SPENT THE LAST 50 YEARS TRYG TO -PUZZLE A BOOK THAT IS DIVID BETWEEN A 999-LE POEM FOUR NTOS, OSTENSIBLY ABOUT A CELEBRATED AMERIN POET’S BULIC REMEMBRANC AND THE ATH OF HIS DGHTER, AND THE EXTENSIVE FOOTNOT TO THE TEXT WHICH ARE WRTEN BY AN ECCENTRIC FOREIGNER WHO BELIEV THE POEM IS REALLY A TRIBUTE TO HIS HOMELAND AND HIS OWN FALL OM REGAL GLORY.FIFTY YEARS IS LONG TIME TO WA FOR A CRYPTN VICE BUT ONE HAS BEEN FURNISHED BY ANDREA PZER, THE THOR OF THE THE SECRET HISTORY OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV, NOT JT ONE OF THE MOST BEGUILG LERARY BGRAPHI TO E OUT YEARS BUT ALSO A FIRST-RATE ADDN TO THE GROANG SHELF OF NABOKOV STUDI.THE “SECRET” HERE ISN’T THE LIFE, WHICH SCHOLARS HAVE DONE TO ATH ALREADY AND WHICH THE MAN HIMSELF DID TWICE (CONCLIVE EVINCE AND SPEAK, MEMORY); ’S HOW THE LIFE SLYLY CREPT S WAY TO THE MARGS OR SUBTEXTS OF THE WORK. HOW ULD NOT GIVEN THAT THAT LIFE WAS LIVED AS A SERIAL WNS TO EVERY KD OF 20TH CENTURY ATROCY? THE NABOKOV FAY WERE, FAMOLY, CONSTUTNAL DEMOCRATIC REFUGE OM THE BOLSHEVIK SEIZURE OF POWER 1917, AND NABOKOV’S FAMO FATHER, VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH, WAS LATER SHOT BY A CZARIST LOYALIST. VLADIMIR AND HIS JEWISH WIFE VERA (TO WHOM HE DITED ALL OF HIS BOOKS) PED THE NAZI OCCUPATN OF FRANCE, IF NOT QUE THE LAST VTIG OF GLOBAL ANTI-SEMISM. NABOKOV’S BROTHER--LAW WAS THEN IMPLITED AS A RSIAN NAZI LLABORATOR EUROPE. FALLY, HIS GAY YOUNGER BROTHER SERGEI DIED UNR DIRE CIRCUMSTANC HLER’S NENGAMME NCENTRATN MP. “THIS LOST, FOTTEN, AND SOMETIM SECRET HISTORY,” PZER WR, “SUGGTS THAT BEHD THE ARTS-FOR-ART’S-SAKE FA THAT NABOKOV BOTH CULTIVATED AND REJECTED, HE WAS BY TAILG THE HORRORS OF HIS ERA AND ATTENDG TO THE STCTIVE POWER OF THE GULAG AND THE HOLOT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER ACROSS FOUR S OF HIS REER.”DETAILG THE TAILG IS NO EASY TASK FOR A BGRAPHER GIVEN HER SUBJECT’S WELL-KNOWN ABHORRENCE OF “DIDACTIC” NOVELS WHICH TRAFFIC BIG IAS OR OPE SENTENTLY ON WORLD EVENTS. “[A]LL ART IS CEPTN,” HE LIKED TO SAY, WHEN NOT MERCILSLY MOCKG THOSE CRICS WHO ME SNIFFG AROUND OVR WH PEDANTIC TENTN. LERARY BGRAPHI, NABOKOV TOLD ALED APPEL, HIS FORMER STUNT AND A NON-KBOTIAN ANNOTATOR OF LOLA, “ARE GREAT FUN TO WRE, GENERALLY LS FUN TO READ.” THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT, THE FIRST NOVEL HE WROTE ENGLISH, AND THE TLE OF WHICH IS CLEARLY ECHOED THE SECRET HISTORY, IS A PARODY OF THE CEPTIVENS OF THE GENRE.YET PZER’S BGRAPHY IS FUN TO READ BEE SHOWS HOW AN ARNT ANTI-SOVIETCHEK, EVER EAGER TO AN END A IENDSHIP OR DISMISS A CELEBRATED NEW RSIAN WRER FOR REAL OR PERCEIVED SYMPATHI WH MOSW, SIMPLY ULD NOT KEEP HIS STRONG OPNS TO HIMSELF. AND PALE FIRE IS THE ROSETTA STONE OF THIS VTIGATN BEE PZER PERSUASIVELY ARGU THAT NABOKOV’S MOST ENIGMATIC NOVEL IS REALLY A SLY MENTARY ON THE COLD WAR, WH KBOTE PLAYG THE PART OF NOT A LUNATIC PRETENR TO A PHANTOM THRONE BUT A LUNATIC FORMER ZEK OF ONE OF LEN’S MOST NOTOR LABOR MPS, LATER THE SE OF ONE OF THE LARGT NUCLEAR TTS HISTORY.“I WAS AT GEETOWN SCHOOL OF FOREIGN SERVICE DURG THE LAST YEARS OF THE SOVIET UNN’S EXISTENCE,” PZER TOLD ME A PHONE TERVIEW. “ONE OF THE THGS I STUDIED WAS NUCLEAR NEGOTIATNS AND TREATI. READG PALE FIRE, I REGNIZED THE TERMS OM THAT EAR AND THOUGHT PERHAPS THE BOOK WAS MORE OF A COLD WAR NOVEL THAN I REALIZED. GOG BACK, I REALIZED WAS MUCH MORE THAN A COLD WAR NOVEL.”TO UNRSTAND PZER’S BREAKER, ONE NEEDS TO FIRST KNOW A LTLE SOMETHG ABOUT THE . THE TRAP-DOOR PLOT PALE FIRE, AS RELAYED BY KBOTE, CLUS A BOLSHEVIK-STYLE REVOLUTN THAT OVERTHROWS THE HAPPY REIGN AND UNHAPPY OTER OF KG CHARL II, AND CULMAT HIS SUBSEQUENT FLIGHT TO THE UNED STAT, WHERPON HE TAK ON THE FALSE INTY OF A PROFSOR AT WORDSMH UNIVERSY THE LEAFY HAMLET OF “NEW WYE, APPALACHIA” (GOOD LUCK FDG THAT ON A MAP EHER). IT IS HERE THAT KBOTE, AN AWKWARD FOREIGNER WH A FONDNS FOR PG-PONG AND PERASTY, MEETS JOHN SHA, A ROBERT FROST-LIKE POET WTER, WHO, UNLIKE THE RT OF WORDSMH’S FACULTY AND SHA’S OWN WIFE SYBIL, TAK AN AMED LIKG TO THE EMIGRE. YET KBOTE NEVER QUE REVEALS HIS “TE” INTY TO HIS WOULD-BE BOSWELL, REUNTG STEAD THE RISE AND FALL OF “CHARL THE BELOVED” TO SHA AS IF KBOTE WERE ONLY A LOYAL SUBJECT RATHER THAN THE SOVEREIGN DISGUISE. THE NOVEL’S CLIMACTIC END -- OR RATHER THE MENTARY’S -- SE THE NARRATOR TRACKED DOWN AT HIS NEW HOME BY AN ASSASS NAMED GRAD (A.K.A. “LENGRAD”) WHO HAS BEEN SELECTED BY A BAL OF MTED “ANTI-KARLISTS,” THE PARTY OF THE NEW ZEMBLAN ERNMENT, TO FALIZE THEIR REVOLUTN WH THE MURR THE HEAD OF THE ANCIEN REGIME. EXCEPT THAT GRAD MISS KBOTE AND MORTALLY WOUNDS SHA.THIS, AT LEAST, IS WHAT WE’RE MEANT TO SIGN OFF ON BY OUR DUB MENTATOR AND NARRATOR WHO, BY HIS OWN ADMISSN THE FOREWORD, IS OFTEN TAKEN FOR A MADMAN. AS WH LOLA, THE FIRST PAG OF WHICH ANNOUNCE THE ATH CHILDBIRTH OF “MRS. RICHARD SCHILLER” (NEE DOLOR HAZE), WE’RE STCTED HOW TO READ PALE FIRE PROPERLY AT S OUTSET: THIS SE, WH A POLICE TERROGATOR’S SKEPTICISM.AMONG THE QUTNS THAT ARE NEVER FIVELY ANSWERED ARE THE FOLLOWG. IS ZEMBLA A REAL UNTRY THE MA-UP WORLD OF THE NOVEL OR IS , LIKE BAKOV’S RSIAN EMPIRE, THE YIELD OF ONE MAN’S LORFUL IMAGG? IN A LETTER SENT TO NABOKOV’S PUBLISHER BEFORE PALE FIRE WAS RELEASED, VERA REFED TO ALLOW THAT ZEMBLA WAS “NON-EXISTENT.” RATHER, SHE WROTE, “NOBODY KNOWS, NOBODY SHOULD KNOW—EVEN KBOTE HARDLY KNOWS—IF ZEMBLA REALLY EXISTS.” AND WHERE, EXACTLY, ARE THE ZEMBLAN “CROWN JEWELS” TO WHICH OUR NARRATOR REPEATEDLY REFERS BEE HIS TOTALARIAN SUCCSORS NEVER SUCCSFULLY CHIVVY THEM OUT OF THEIR UNDISCLOSED HIDG PLACE THE ZEMBLAN PALACE, WHICH BE KG CHARL’ TEMPORARY PRISON? IN THE APPENDIX TO PALE FIRE, WHICH OF URSE NSTUT PART OF THE NOVEL SELF, THE ENTRY FOR “CROWN JEWELS” LEADS TO ANOTHER ENTRY FOR “HIDG PLACE,” WHICH LEADS TO “POTAYNIK” (THE ZEMBLAN WORD FOR “SECRET PLACE”), WHICH LEADS TO “TAYNIK” (THE RSIAN WORD FOR ), WHICH LEADS BACK TO “CROWN JEWELS” -- AN FE REGRSN LOOP, OTHER WORDS, AND ONE OF NABOKOV’S PARTG TRICKS. FALLY, WHAT IS KBOTE’S “EXTRAORDARY SECRET,” WHICH HE CLAIMS SHA ME CLOSE TO FIGURG OUT? SUPERFICIALLY THIS WOULD SEEM TO MEAN HIS INTY AS THE LAST KG OF ZEMBLA, BUT ULD ALSO REFER TO HIS TORTURED PROCLIVY FOR “FNLETS” (THE MALE VERSN OF NYMPHETS, OF WHICH LOLA IS THE MOST REGNIZED SPECIMEN), OR TO SOMETHG ELSE ENTIRELY.IN AN TERVIEW HE GAVE TO THE HERALD TRIBUNE AFTER PALE FIRE’S PUBLITN NABOKOV FLAT-OUT STATED THAT KBOTE WAS SANE AND HAD ACTUALLY MTED SUICI JT BEFORE HE WAS ABLE TO PLETE THE LAST ENTRY THE INX: THE ONE FOR ZEMBLA. THIS WAS NO ACCINT.AND ONE OF THE FIRST REVIEWS OF PALE FIRE, AND PROBABLY THE MOST ADULATORY, MARY MCCARTHY NNECTED KBOTE’S HOMELAND TO “NOVA ZEMBLA, A GROUP OF ISLANDS THE ARCTIC OCEAN, NORTH OF ARCHANGEL,” AND TO A PASSG REFERENCE OM ALEXANR POPE’S ESSAY ON MAN NOTG THE UNEXPLORED POLAR NORTH: “AT GREENLAND, ZEMBLA, OR THE LORD KNOWS WHERE.” (POPE’S POEM ALSO MAK MENTN, AS KBOTE RMS , TO “LUNATIC A KG,” AN ALLN WE’RE TOLD WAS SCBBED OM AN EARLIER DRAFT OF SHA’S POEM.)IN FACT, NOVA ZEMBLA ONCE HAD A “KG,” ALBE AN UNTEND ONE. THERE WERE THREE DUTCH VOYAG TO THE ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO THE 16TH CENTURY. AS PZER NOT, “THE FIRST FOUND LUCK, THE SEND MISFORTUNE, AND THE THIRD AN EQUAL MEASURE OF BOTH.” ALL WERE LED BY WILLIAM BARENTS, HE OF THE FAMO STRA, WHO SOUGHT TO FD A SHORTER TRA ROUTE OM EUROPE TO CHA. WRONG TURNS, MAN-HUNGRY POLAR BEARS AND ICE TRAPS IMPED HIS PLAN. IN MAY 1596, HIS EXPEDN RAN AGROUND ON THE NORTHERN EDGE OF NOVA ZEMBLA, AND HIS SHIP WAS STROYED BY MOVG GLACIERS. BARENTS AND HIS MEN FASHNED A B OUT OF DRIFTWOOD AND SPENT THE WTER THERE, EMERGG FALLY ON TWELFTH NIGHT, JANUARY 5TH, 1597, WHERE THEY CELEBRATED AT AN OZEN BANQUET AND DREW STRAWS TO BE THE FIRST KG OF NOVA ZEMBLA, “AN IMAGARY MONARCH,” PZER WR, “ A LAND OF ICE AND ATH, A LER OVER HOPE AND SPAIR, A KG OF NOTHG.”MADMEN PRETENDG TO BE MONARCHS IS A THEME AS OLD AS RSIA HERSELF, AND NABOKOV HAD A FEW FALSE STARTS GETTG BACK TO FOLKLORIC BASICS, BEGNG 1940 WH A PROJECT LLED SOL REX, HIS FAL, ABANDONED FICTN WRTEN HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE. HE TRIED AGA 1957, WRG TO HIS DOUBLEDAY EDOR JASON EPSTE THAT HE’D LIKE HIS NEXT NOVEL TO BE ABOUT A NORTHERN KG OM THE OLD WORLD WHO FLE TO AMERI AND PROBLEMS FOR THE KENNEDY ADMISTRATN. IT WASN’T UNTIL HE FISHED HIS EXHSTIVE 1,300-PAGE TRANSLATN AND ANNOTATN OF PHK’S EUGENE ONEG, HOWEVER, THAT NABOKOV SET TO WORK EARNT. HE FIRST PLETED THE 999-LE POEM “PALE FIRE” BEFORE HE GOT STARTED ON THE PROSE, WHICH HE GOT ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH BEFORE HE AND VERA MOVED TO WHAT WOULD BE THEIR FAL RINCE: THE MONTRX PALACE HOTEL ON LAKE GENEVA. IT WAS 1961, THE YEAR THE BERL WALL WENT UP, AMERIN AND SOVIET TANKS SQUARED OFF AT THE MARTN LE SEPARATG THE EE WORLD OM THE EASTERN BLOC, AND KHSHCHEV BEGAN TONATG THERMONUCLEAR BOMBS AT NOVA ZEMBLA.NABOKOV HAD ALREADY HEARD OF THE ISLANDS YEARS EARLIER; THEY WERE GOG TO PLAY A B ROLE HIS 1957 PROJECT PROPOSAL TO EPSTE; AND 1959, A HAD WRTEN RMG HIM THAT THEIR GREAT-GRANDFATHER, MAY HAVE BEEN THE REASON THAT A NABOKOV RIVER RAN THROUGH THE ARCTIC REGN. BUT FOR PZER, THE TE BREAKER WAS THE WTERN PRS:“DURG HIS DAILY READG OF THE NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE SWZERLAND, [NABOKOV] WOULD HAVE SEEN MORE THAN A DOZEN ONT-PAGE STORI MENTNG NOVA ZEMBLA. NOVA ZEMBLA APPEARED ON MAPS NEWSPAPERS AROUND THE GLOBE, WH FALL-OUT PATTERNS NOTED. DEBAT OVER SAFE RADIATN LEVELS NTUED. MILK WAS TTED TO SEE IF CHILDREN SHOULD STILL DRK , AND AT THE TWENTY-SEND PARTY CONGRS MOSW KHSHCHEV ANNOUNCED PLANS TO TONATE A 50-MEGATON HYDROGEN BOMB. THE UN TOOK UP THE ISSUE, AND AFTER LONG BAT, FALLY PASSED A ROLUTN IMPLORG THE SOVIETS NOT TO EXPLO THE MONSTER VICE.”KHSHCHEV DID ANYWAY, ON OCTOBER 30, WHEN HE DROPPED TSAR BOMBA, A WEAPON OF MASS STCTN SO GIGANTIC, PARTS OF THE AIRCRAFT’S FELAGE HAD TO BE REMOVED TO RRY . WHEN THE VICE WENT OFF, REGISTERG AN EXPLOSN TEN TIM MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL THE BOMBS ED WORLD WAR II BED, STROYED BUILDGS A 75-E RADI, ACTURED GLASS 500 AWAY, AND, AS PZER OBSERV, “[T]RACE LEVELS OF RADIATN CROSSED THE NTENT TO THE NABOKOVS’ SUE MONTRX.”THE SOVIETS STOPPED SETTG OFF N AT NOVA ZEMBLA AFTER THAT, OWG TO TERNATNAL PRSURE. SEVERAL WEEKS LATER, NABOKOV LIVERED THE MANCRIPT FOR PALE FIRE. BUT FOR THIS RSIAN THOR THERE SIMPLY WAS NO MORAL EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN SUPERPOWER PROLIFERATN EFFORTS. NABOKOV WAS A EPLY NSERVATIVE LD WARRR WHO LOATHED LEN, WHOM HE PARED TO “THE PAIL OF THE K OF HUMAN KDNS WH A AD RAT AT THE BOTTOM,” AND FOLLOWED “THAT LE OF NDUCT WHICH MAY BE THE MOST DISPLEASG TO THE REDS AND THE RSELLS,” MEANG BERTRAND, THEN PRINT OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. PALE FIRE IS FTOONED WH ATOMIC REFERENC AND A MOCKERY OF PEACENIKS. AS PORTRAYED BY KBOTE, SHA’S POLICS ARE QUE OBVLY NABOKOV’S OWN. DELETED L OF “PALE FIRE” ARE SAID TO CLU:“AN AGE THAT THKS SPACEBOMBS AND SPACHIPS TAKE A GENI WH A FOREIGN NAME TO MAKE,WHEN ANY JACKASS N RIG UP THE STUFF;AN AGE WHICH A PACK OF ROGU N BLUFFTHE SELENOGRAPHER; A IC AGETHAT SE DR. SCHWEZER A GREAT SAGE.”NOT OF NABOKOV’S OWN POLICS AND WORLDWI FAME ARE EVEN STCK SYNCHRONOLY AS THIS STROPHE WHICH MA TO SHA’S FAL VERSN:“IT WAS A YEAR OF TEMPTS: HURRINELOLA SWEPT OM FLORIDA TO GLOWED. SHAHS MARRIED. GLOOMY RSIANS SPIED.”KBOTE AT ONE POT REFERS TO A WORDSMH PHYSICS PROFSOR, A “SO-LLED PK, WHO BELIEVED WHAT SO-LLED PKS BELIEVE (PROGRSIVE EDUTN, THE INTEGRY OF ANYONE SPYG FOR RSIA, FALL-OUTS OCSNED SOLELY BY US-MA BOMBS, THE EXISTENCE THE NEAR PAST OF A MCCARTHY ERA, SOVIET ACHIEVEMENTS CLUDG DR. ZHIVAGO, AND SO FORTH).” (NABOKOV HATED PASTERNAK’S MASTERPIECE, THOUGH ’D BE CHURLISH TO SUGGT THAT THIS WAS ONLY BEE NUDGED LOLA OUT OF THE TOP SPOT ON THE BTSELLERS’ LIST 1959. HE RATHER UNFAIRLY THOUGHT THE BOOK SO PONRO AND PESTRIAN AS TO HAVE LIKELY BEEN WRTEN BY PASTERNAK’S MISTRS, WHILE VERA LLED FODR FOR “PRO-COMMIE” IDTS, A JUDGMENT THAT NO DOUBT WOULD HAVE SURPRISED SOVIET CULTURAL MISSARS AT THE TIME WHO BANNED DR. ZHIVAGO.)THE ONLY REFERENCE TO THE REAL NOVA ZEMBLA PALE FIRE OCCURS WHEN KBOTE IS MISTAKEN BY AN AMERIN HISTORY PROFSOR FOR ANOTHER MAN BORN RSIA NAMED EHER BOTK OR BOTKE, A LS ARTFUL ANAGRAM, ONE ADMS, THAN SIG LEYMANSKI. KBOTE SAYS PROFSOR PARDON IS “‘NFG ME WH SOME REFUGEE OM NOVA ZEMBLA’ [SARSTILLY STRSG THE ‘NOVA’].”SO WAS NABOKOV, VENTRILOQUIZG THROUGH HIS UNHGED AND UNTSTWORTHY NARRATOR, DRAWG A DISTCTN BETWEEN THE REAL ARCTIC WASTELAND OM A MA-UP KGDOM, OR WAS HE NFLATG THE TWO PLAC? HE’D LATER ADM THAT PROFSOR PARDON WAS RRECT, FURNISHG ANOTHER PLUM: KBOTE WAS BOTK/BOTKE.AS HAPPENS, SEVERAL MORE PLUMS ARE BURIED THROUGHOUT THE TEXT AS MUNDANE REFERENC TO THE NEW YORK TIM, CLUDG A STORY ABOUT KHSHCHEV NCELG A TRIP TO SNDAVIA TO VIS ZEMBLA STEAD AND EMBRACE S PEOPLE AS “FELLOW UNTRYMEN” ICH-B-E-BERLER FASHN. THE NCELED TRIP DID HAPPEN AND WAS WRTEN UP THE TIM ON JULY 21, 1959, THE DAY THAT GRAD READS ABOUT -- ALBE DISTORTED THROUGH KBOTE’S NARRATIVE PRISM -- SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVG NEW YORK CY WHERE HE CLOS ON THE FUGIVE KG’S NEW ENGLAND HIAWAY.IN THAT SAME TERVIEW HE GAVE TO ALED APPEL ( 1967) NABOKOV NFSED THAT “[I]N MON WH PHK, I AM FASCATED BY FATIDIC DAT.” FOR PZER, THE GREY LADY’S RECURRENCE THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL -- AND THE MATCHG OF REAL-WORLD EVENTS WH THEIR FICTNAL UNTERPARTS -- OFFERS PROOF THAT NABOKOV WAS ED FLUENCED BY GLOBAL HEADL, AND NOT JT THOSE THAT CROSSED HIS SK AS HE BURNED THROUGH THE FAL PROOFS OF PALE FIRE. ONE HEADLE, S EARLIER, MT HAVE STCK HIM WH THE FORCE OF TSAR BOMBA. IN 1955, ABOUT TWO YEARS BEFORE HE BEGAN THE IAL WORK ON THE BOOK, A STORY APPEARED THE TIM ABOUT JOHN NOBLE, AN AMERIN WHO HAD SURVIVED WORLD WAR II GERMANY ONLY TO BE ARRTED BY THE SOVIETS, THEN SENT TO BUCHENWALD (NOW A RSIAN-N TENTN FOR POWS), BEFORE FALLY BEG DISPATCHED TO A AL-MG LABOR MP NORTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE LLED VORKUTA. ACRDG TO NOBLE’S RELLECTN THE TIM, THE ABSOLUTE WORST PLACE THAT ZEKS OF VORKUTA BELIEVED THEY ULD WD UP WAS A WHISPERED-ABOUT LONY LLED NOVA ZEMBLA, “OM WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN.” NOBLE’S ACUNT, SERIALIZED OVER THE URSE OF THREE DAYS, BEME A BTSELLG MEMOIR, I WAS A SLAVE RSIA.IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME THE NEWSPAPER HAD WRTEN ABOUT NOVA ZEMBLA. THE EARLIT REFERENCE TO THE MPS ON THE ARCTIC ISLAND CHA WAS ON AUGT 28, 1922 AN ARTICLE ENTLED, “EXILED RSIANS TO LEAVE THIS YEAR,” WHICH RAN BOTH THE NEW YORK TIM AND THE TIM OF LONDON. THE RSIANS QUTN WERE SOCIALIST REVOLUTNARI AND SOME OF THE FIRST POLIL CRIMALS SENTENCED BY THE NEW REGIME, ALONG WH ARTISTS AND TELLECTUALS WHO HADN’T FOUND FAVOR LEN’S WORKERS’ STATE. MARCH 28, 1922 WAS THE DATE THAT VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH MET A CZARIST LOYALIST’S BULLET BERL, THE FIRST CY OF THE NABOKOV FAY’S EXILE OM ST. PETERSBURG. WHAT IS THE LIKELIHOOD THAT HIS SON, ASSUMG HE READ OF THE PLIGHT OF NON-BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTNARI FIVE MONTHS TO THE DAY OF HIS VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH’S MURR, WOULDN’T HAVE REGISTERED THE LENDRIC SYMMETRY WH A SENSE OF ISSON?STORI ABOUT THE EARLY VICTIMS OF BOLSHEVIK TERROR WEREN’T NFED TO OBSCURE NEWS EMS; THEY RAN ALL OVER EUROPE AND THE UNED STAT AND EVEN APPEARED, ON AUGT 30, 1922, RUL, THEN THE LARGT RSIAN-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER PRTED GERMANY, WH WHICH NABOKOV WAS TIMATELY ACQUATED: NOT ONLY HAD PUBLISHED SOME OF HIS APPRENTICE WORK, BUT RUL WAS -FOUND BY VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH.“WH THE MPS, SI RSIA, AND ACROSS EUROPE AND AMERI,” PZER WR, “NOVA ZEMBLA HAD BEEN FEARED AS THE CELT OUTPOST OF THE MP SYSTEM, A PLACE OF TERROR FOR ALL OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV’S ADULT LIFE.” NEARLY FORTY YEARS LATER, HE’D GIVEN FABULIST EXPRSN ONE OF HIS GREATT WORKS OF ART, BY MAKG HIS “PARANOID, BROKEN NARRATOR [HAIL] OM A NIGHTMARE RNER OF THE GULAG.” AND THAT PALE FIRE ME OUT 1962, THE SAME YEAR AS A NEW RSIAN NOVELIST AND SURVIVOR OF THE GULAG MA HIS LERARY BUT WH A DAY THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH, IS ANOTHER FATIDIC CINCE WORTHY OF PHK.ALEKSANDR SOLZHENSYN’S BGRAPHY STALKS NABOKOV’S CHAPTER BY CHAPTER THE SECRET HISTORY, CULMATG THE MOST FAMO LUNCH MEETG THAT NEVER WAS, WHEN THE NEWLY EXILED SOLZHENSYN AND HIS WIFE NATALIA, FOR REASONS UNKNOWN, TURNED THEIR R AROUND MONTRX 1974 AND NEVER SHOWED UP TO DE WH VLADIMIR AND VERA AT THE PALACE HOTEL’S SALON MIQUE. CHARACTERISTILLY, NABOKOV HAD RID SOLZHENSYN AS ANOTHER THIRD-RATE SOVIET SCRIBBLER; HE ALSO SPECTED THE FORMER ZEK OF POSSIBLE KGB TI UNTIL THE PUBLITN OF THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO DISPELLED ALL DOUBTS ABOUT SOLZHENSYN’S IMPORTANCE AS A DISSINT. NOW A NOBEL LREATE, THE YOUNGER RSIAN ENORMOLY ADMIRED THE OLR EMIGRE AND EVEN ADVANCED HIS NAME FOR THE SAME SWEDISH PRIZE, A LREL THAT WOULD ELU NABOKOV FOR THE RT OF HIS LIFE.SO WHAT DO THE REAR, NOW RACG ANTILLY TO POEM AND MENTARY SEARCH OF SOVIET PRISON REFERENC, FD BY WAY OF RROBORATN UPON A RE-READG PALE FIRE?PZER MENTNS THE “OZEN MUD AND HORROR” KBOTE’S HEART, AS WELL AS THE “TALE OF TORTURE WRTEN THE BISED AND BRAND SKY,” WHICH HE’D HOPED WOULD AMOUNT TO THE ALLEGORY OF ZEMBLA THAT SHA TOLD HIS EPIC POEM. FURTHERMORE, I DISVERED THAT SHA REFERS TO THE ACT OF SHAVG AS PLOUGHG “OLD ZEMBLA’S FIELDS WHERE MY GRAY STUBBLE GROWS, / AND SLAV MAKE HAY BETWEEN MY MOUTH AND NOSE.” UPON GRAD’ ARRIVAL NEW YORK, ON JULY 20, 1959, THE ASSASS CHECKS TO A SEEDY HOTEL AND GO TO BED “STRIPED PAJAMAS--THE KD ZEMBLANS LLED SKER SIRSER (‘RSIAN SEERSUCKER SU’),” WHICH SOUND A LOT TO ME LIKE A NABOKOVIAN PHEMISM FOR AN MATE’S UNIFORM. (IN THE NAZI-N NENGAMME NCENTRATN MP, WHERE VLADIMIR’S BROTHER SERGEI PERISHED, PART OF THE MAT’ HODGEPODGE ATTIRE NSISTED OF RECTANGULAR CLOTH CUT-OUTS KNOWN AS “RSIAN SOCKS.”)ONCE THE SOVET STATE ARCHIV WERE OPENED THE 1990S, PZER NCLUS, THE HISTORIL RERD OF NOVA ZEMBLA WAS SHOWN TO BE A SHA MORE PLITED THAN EHER THE TIM OR JOHN NOBLE HAD SUPPOSED. THERE WERE NO WARTIME FIL ABOUT MG OR MP OPERATNS ON THE MA ISLANDS SPE MORS AND LEGENDS TO THE NTRARY. MOREOVER, THE ACTUAL SE FOR A PRISON LONY WAS NOT LOTED ON THE ARCHIPELAGO’S NORTHERNMOST ISLANDS BUT ON S SOUTHERNMOST. MORE PORTENTO FOR NABOKOV, IF ONLY HE ULD HAVE KNOWN 1961, WAS THE FACT THAT 1922 THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTNARI DO NOT APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN SENT TO NOVA ZEMBLA AT ALL; THEY WERE MOST LIKELY SENT TO SOLOVKI, ANOTHER OZEN ISLAND CHA AND ONE TO WHICH SOLZHENSYN HAD PAID AMPLE ATTENTN THE SEND VOLUME OF THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO. IT WAS HERE, THIS DREAD WHE SEA LONY, THAT THE STALIST NOVELIST MAXIM GORKY PAID A VIS 1926 AND THEN RETURNED TO MOSW TO WRE OF HOW IMPRSED HE’D BEEN BY THE SPECTACLE CIVILIZED SOVIET REHABILATN—THIS SPE OF RIDICULO POTEMK EFFORTS TO VER UP THE RAMPANT STARVATN AND ILLNS, AND GORKY’S BEG TOLD BY A CHILD-PRISONER OF THE GOME TORTUR DISPENSED THERE WHEN DIGNARI WEREN’T ATTENDANCE. SOLOVKI, AS TURNS OUT, IS ALSO WHERE THE BOLSHEVIKS WENT LOOKG FOR THE CZAR’S HIDN IMPERIAL TREASUR AN EXVATN MPAIGN REMISCIENT OF THE ANTI-KARLISTS.SO HERE, THEN, WERE THE “CROWN JEWELS” ALL ALONG: NOT THE GEMS OF THE ZEMBLAN MONARCHY, MUCH LS THOSE OF THE ROMANOVS. THEY WERE THE RSIANS OF THE LIBERAL TRADN, THE TE HEIRS TO THE UNTRY HIJACKED BY TYRANTS. AS THE TIM PUT ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1922, THE COMMUNISTS WERE HUNTG FOR BBL BUT THEY WERE “THROWG TO THE ARCTIC SEA OR OVER SOVIET BORRS A CULTURE MORE PREC THAN THE WEALTH OF THOSE HOARD JEWELS,” THAT IS, THE POETS AND PATERS AND PHILOSOPHERS OF A RSIA THAT NEVER WOULD BE, MEN LIKE NABOKOV’S FATHER AND IENDS, WHOUT WHICH THE NEW RSIAN NATN WAS BOUND TO BEE A GIANT, “SHUT-OFF NOVA ZEMBLA.”AND HERE’S KBOTE’S “EXTRAORDARY SECRET”: HE IS NABOKOV’S HNTED AND BROKEN AND IMAGATIVE CHRONICLER OF SOVIET TERROR. MICHAEL WEISS

NABOKOV’S ‘PALE FIRE’ IS ‘THE GREAT GAY COMIC NOVEL’, ARGU EDMUND WHE

Nabokov’s ‘great gay ic novel’ - TLS.

And that bgraphy, real or lnal, is the picture of an unrepentant homosexual, sensual, guilt-ee, tirelsly on the make.

In the 1950s, gay men were portrayed fictn and films as lonely phantoms – sad and lourls – or sometim as stant villas (see Norman Mailer’s say, ‘The Gay Villa’, 1954). ” Rogers echoed those sentiments, quippg: “I’m out there beg a full gay man on that beach, and that wh s maladi and succs. “The tth is [the village of] the P was very closeted and origally envisned as a straight muny, ” she ’d also like her podst to help dismantle the stereotype of Fire Island beg a haven strictly for whe cisgenr gay men, notg: “The tth is, is filled wh women and trans folks, particularly [the village of] Cherry Grove.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

Are played out the ty, remote gay muni as well, ” Rothschild said. WASHINGTON – A feral appeals urt has led that a Catholic high school Indianapolis was ee to fire a gay guidance unselor bee she performed at least some relig duti, the latt legal setback for LGBTQ+ rights when they nflict wh Fzgerald had worked for 14 years as a guidance unselor at Ronlli High School when school officials disvered she was married to another woman. E-4 nabokov251 reviews14 followersAugt 17, 2007I loved this, pecially as my py of the book seemed to operate on a book ially appears to be an unfished poem, 'Pale Fire', by a ad wrer named John Sha, together wh a foreword, tailed mentary and x by a iend of his, Charl Kbote is ls terted the poem than he is discsg the untry of 'Zembla' and s flamboyantly gay, posed Kg.

Supreme Court cisn favor of a web signer who did not want to work for gay upl bolsters s fight the U.

Court of Appeals for the 4th Circu Richmond is an early tt of how that major Supreme Court cisn ptg ee speech agast anti-discrimatn laws will play out beyond the hypothetil suatn that se, which volved a platiff who had never actually ma weddg webs or been asked to do so by a gay person.

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

“The Court rejected the dissent’s assertn that s cisn opened the door to discrimatn employment, ” ACLU attorney Josh Block wrote a reply to Becket’s the exampl raised the Supreme Court did not clu a relig anizatn or a gay employee, and Gorsuch repeatedly voked a 2000 cisn allowg the Boy Suts to expel a gay volunteer on “exprsive associatn” grounds. “We all said that thoands of relig anizatns all across the untry ask their employe to uphold their tradnal view of marriage word and ed, and if you terpret the statute that way, ’s gog to unleash lots of lawsus agast them, ” Goodrich the Supreme Court has specifilly said preventg racial discrimatn is a pellg ernment tert that jtifi rtrictg First Amendment eedoms, he noted that the Supreme Court has rejected such a fdg on discrimatn agast gay or transgenr people.

He’s not well-liked by his lleagu bee he’s unpleasant, eccentric, th-skned, self-centered, gay, and a pedophile—not to mentn clilly sane, sufferg om lns and hallucatns that he nnot ntrol.

Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Fally, his gay younger brother Sergei died unr dire circumstanc Hler’s Nengamme ncentratn mp.

”Sheryl Gay Stolberg is a Washgton Corrponnt verg health policy. More about Sheryl Gay StolbergA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 15 of the New York edn wh the headle: Virologists Deny to Panel That Fci Swayed Report Agast Lab Leak Theory.

PALE FIRE, COLD WARA NEW LERARY BGRAPHY OF THE LOLA THOR ARGU THAT HIS MOST ENIGMATIC NOVEL IS A SLY MENTARY ON THE COLD WAR, WR MICHAEL WEISS.MICHAEL WEISSCONTRIBUTG EDORUPDATED JUL. 11, 2017 6:27PM EDT / PUBLISHED OCT. 13, 2013 4:45AM EDT HORST TAPPE/GETTY,HORST TAPPEAS EDWARD SNOWN SAT WEIGHG HIS FORTUN THE TRANS ZONE OF SHEREMETYEVO AIRPORT LAST JULY, A MAN LLED ANTON BAKOV CREATED A MOR NEWS EM RSIA FOR OFFERG TO BTOW A SGULAR FORM OF ASYLUM ON THE FUGIVE NSA NTRACTOR. AS , A RSIAN NEWS AGENCY, PUT , BAKOV IS A “URALS GENI OF POLIL CREATIVY... WHO HAS PROCLAIMED HIMSELF PRIME MISTER OF THE RSIAN EMPIRE OF THE NORTH POLE AND ANTARCTI,” A UNTRY THAT “DO NOT HAVE DIPLOMATIC RELATNS WH ANY STATE OR, ACRDG TO BAKOV, NEED THEM.” IT IS “OPEN TO RSIANS BUT FOR VAR REASONS NOT CLUD WH NTEMPORARY RSIA.” ONE REASON MIGHT BE THAT THE UNTRY DO NOT ACTUALLY EXIST ON ANY MAP. IT’S THE PRODUCT OF THE PRIME MISTER’S OWN MD AND ONLY REPRENTED ON AN TRIGUG WEBSE WHERE THE CUR WILL DISVER THAT THE RSIAN EMPIRE, GEOGRAPHILLY SUATED THE NONNTIGUO REGNS OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH POL, IS A NSTUTNAL MONARCHY MEANT TO BE THE “SUCCSOR” TO THE GREAT DOMN ONCE LED BY PETER THE GREAT. THERE’S EVEN A STAR WARS-THEMED PROMOTNAL VIO. SADLY, THE ONE RSIAN WHO WOULD HAVE LIGHTED MOST THIS FANTASY, PARTICULARLY THE WAY WHICH MANIC VENTN BLEEDS TO TERNATNAL POLICS, IS A ST. PETERSBURG GENI OF LERARY CREATIVY WHO’S BEEN AD FOR 36 YEARS.IN PALE FIRE, VLADIMIR NABOKOV VED HIS REAR TO QUTN THE RELIABILY AND SANY OF HIS NARRATOR, CHARL KBOTE, THE SELF-SCRIBED EXILED KG OF A LAND LLED ZEMBLA WHO HAS CLAIMED THE ROLE OF ANNOTATOR OF A AD POET’S FAL MASTERPIECE, WHICH KBOTE HAS STOLEN.ALL OF NABOKOV’S NOVELS FEATURE WHAT HE LLED “PLUMS” BUT MIGHT ALSO BE THOUGHT OF AS EASTER EGGS: HIDN ALLNS OR JOK OR LEGENDS FOR WORKG OUT WHAT WAS THAT THE GREAT RSIAN HAD MD WH THE E OF A DATE, A NAME, OR A METAPHOR. NOTHG NABOKOV IS EVER WASTED, YET MUCH N BE MISSED, PECIALLY UPON THE FIRST READG, WHICH IS WHY HE THOUGHT THAT BOOKS ULD ONLY BE “RE-READ.” FOR STANCE, HOW MANY WILL HAVE NOTICED THAT A SCIENTIST NAMED SIG LEYMANSKI, WH HIS “ANAGRAM-LOOKG NAME,” FEATURED A SCIENCE FICTN STORY NTAED WH ADA, OR ARDOR, ONE OF THE LATER, LONGER NOVELS, IS -SCRAMBLED AS KGSLEY AMIS? AND LEYMANSKI’S CHARACTER, WE’RE FURTHER RMED, IS RIVED PART OM THE HAMFISTEDLY NAMED “DR. FROID,” A FIGURE MENTNED PASSG ADA PROPER. WE KNOW THAT THE VENTOR OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, THAT “VIENNE WCHDOCTOR,” RANKED ONLY WH DOSTOEVSKY THE NABOKOVIAN TALOGUE OF IC TELLECTUAL OR LERARY HORRORS. SO THIS IS HOW THE OLD VIL TOOK OBLIQUE REVENGE ON AMIS’S REVIEW OF LOLA, A PAN JTIFIED BY THE BOOK’S FUNDAMENTAL FLAW THAT “SO FAR OM BEG TOO PORNOGRAPHIC, IS NOT PORNOGRAPHIC ENOUGH.” KGSLEY’S SON MART, HIMSELF A FLAME-TENR OF VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH, ONCE SCRIBED FNEGANS WAKE AS “700-PAGE CROSSWORD CLUE AND THE ANSWER IS ‘THE.’” THAT EASILY MAK PALE FIRE ADVANCED SUDOKU, ONLY WH NO DISCERNIBLE ANSWER OR EVEN A FIVE PROOF OF S OWN FICTIVE REALY. CRICS HAVE SPENT THE LAST 50 YEARS TRYG TO -PUZZLE A BOOK THAT IS DIVID BETWEEN A 999-LE POEM FOUR NTOS, OSTENSIBLY ABOUT A CELEBRATED AMERIN POET’S BULIC REMEMBRANC AND THE ATH OF HIS DGHTER, AND THE EXTENSIVE FOOTNOT TO THE TEXT WHICH ARE WRTEN BY AN ECCENTRIC FOREIGNER WHO BELIEV THE POEM IS REALLY A TRIBUTE TO HIS HOMELAND AND HIS OWN FALL OM REGAL GLORY.FIFTY YEARS IS LONG TIME TO WA FOR A CRYPTN VICE BUT ONE HAS BEEN FURNISHED BY ANDREA PZER, THE THOR OF THE THE SECRET HISTORY OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV, NOT JT ONE OF THE MOST BEGUILG LERARY BGRAPHI TO E OUT YEARS BUT ALSO A FIRST-RATE ADDN TO THE GROANG SHELF OF NABOKOV STUDI.THE “SECRET” HERE ISN’T THE LIFE, WHICH SCHOLARS HAVE DONE TO ATH ALREADY AND WHICH THE MAN HIMSELF DID TWICE (CONCLIVE EVINCE AND SPEAK, MEMORY); ’S HOW THE LIFE SLYLY CREPT S WAY TO THE MARGS OR SUBTEXTS OF THE WORK. HOW ULD NOT GIVEN THAT THAT LIFE WAS LIVED AS A SERIAL WNS TO EVERY KD OF 20TH CENTURY ATROCY? THE NABOKOV FAY WERE, FAMOLY, CONSTUTNAL DEMOCRATIC REFUGE OM THE BOLSHEVIK SEIZURE OF POWER 1917, AND NABOKOV’S FAMO FATHER, VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH, WAS LATER SHOT BY A CZARIST LOYALIST. VLADIMIR AND HIS JEWISH WIFE VERA (TO WHOM HE DITED ALL OF HIS BOOKS) PED THE NAZI OCCUPATN OF FRANCE, IF NOT QUE THE LAST VTIG OF GLOBAL ANTI-SEMISM. NABOKOV’S BROTHER--LAW WAS THEN IMPLITED AS A RSIAN NAZI LLABORATOR EUROPE. FALLY, HIS GAY YOUNGER BROTHER SERGEI DIED UNR DIRE CIRCUMSTANC HLER’S NENGAMME NCENTRATN MP. “THIS LOST, FOTTEN, AND SOMETIM SECRET HISTORY,” PZER WR, “SUGGTS THAT BEHD THE ARTS-FOR-ART’S-SAKE FA THAT NABOKOV BOTH CULTIVATED AND REJECTED, HE WAS BY TAILG THE HORRORS OF HIS ERA AND ATTENDG TO THE STCTIVE POWER OF THE GULAG AND THE HOLOT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER ACROSS FOUR S OF HIS REER.”DETAILG THE TAILG IS NO EASY TASK FOR A BGRAPHER GIVEN HER SUBJECT’S WELL-KNOWN ABHORRENCE OF “DIDACTIC” NOVELS WHICH TRAFFIC BIG IAS OR OPE SENTENTLY ON WORLD EVENTS. “[A]LL ART IS CEPTN,” HE LIKED TO SAY, WHEN NOT MERCILSLY MOCKG THOSE CRICS WHO ME SNIFFG AROUND OVR WH PEDANTIC TENTN. LERARY BGRAPHI, NABOKOV TOLD ALED APPEL, HIS FORMER STUNT AND A NON-KBOTIAN ANNOTATOR OF LOLA, “ARE GREAT FUN TO WRE, GENERALLY LS FUN TO READ.” THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT, THE FIRST NOVEL HE WROTE ENGLISH, AND THE TLE OF WHICH IS CLEARLY ECHOED THE SECRET HISTORY, IS A PARODY OF THE CEPTIVENS OF THE GENRE.YET PZER’S BGRAPHY IS FUN TO READ BEE SHOWS HOW AN ARNT ANTI-SOVIETCHEK, EVER EAGER TO AN END A IENDSHIP OR DISMISS A CELEBRATED NEW RSIAN WRER FOR REAL OR PERCEIVED SYMPATHI WH MOSW, SIMPLY ULD NOT KEEP HIS STRONG OPNS TO HIMSELF. AND PALE FIRE IS THE ROSETTA STONE OF THIS VTIGATN BEE PZER PERSUASIVELY ARGU THAT NABOKOV’S MOST ENIGMATIC NOVEL IS REALLY A SLY MENTARY ON THE COLD WAR, WH KBOTE PLAYG THE PART OF NOT A LUNATIC PRETENR TO A PHANTOM THRONE BUT A LUNATIC FORMER ZEK OF ONE OF LEN’S MOST NOTOR LABOR MPS, LATER THE SE OF ONE OF THE LARGT NUCLEAR TTS HISTORY.“I WAS AT GEETOWN SCHOOL OF FOREIGN SERVICE DURG THE LAST YEARS OF THE SOVIET UNN’S EXISTENCE,” PZER TOLD ME A PHONE TERVIEW. “ONE OF THE THGS I STUDIED WAS NUCLEAR NEGOTIATNS AND TREATI. READG PALE FIRE, I REGNIZED THE TERMS OM THAT EAR AND THOUGHT PERHAPS THE BOOK WAS MORE OF A COLD WAR NOVEL THAN I REALIZED. GOG BACK, I REALIZED WAS MUCH MORE THAN A COLD WAR NOVEL.”TO UNRSTAND PZER’S BREAKER, ONE NEEDS TO FIRST KNOW A LTLE SOMETHG ABOUT THE . THE TRAP-DOOR PLOT PALE FIRE, AS RELAYED BY KBOTE, CLUS A BOLSHEVIK-STYLE REVOLUTN THAT OVERTHROWS THE HAPPY REIGN AND UNHAPPY OTER OF KG CHARL II, AND CULMAT HIS SUBSEQUENT FLIGHT TO THE UNED STAT, WHERPON HE TAK ON THE FALSE INTY OF A PROFSOR AT WORDSMH UNIVERSY THE LEAFY HAMLET OF “NEW WYE, APPALACHIA” (GOOD LUCK FDG THAT ON A MAP EHER). IT IS HERE THAT KBOTE, AN AWKWARD FOREIGNER WH A FONDNS FOR PG-PONG AND PERASTY, MEETS JOHN SHA, A ROBERT FROST-LIKE POET WTER, WHO, UNLIKE THE RT OF WORDSMH’S FACULTY AND SHA’S OWN WIFE SYBIL, TAK AN AMED LIKG TO THE EMIGRE. YET KBOTE NEVER QUE REVEALS HIS “TE” INTY TO HIS WOULD-BE BOSWELL, REUNTG STEAD THE RISE AND FALL OF “CHARL THE BELOVED” TO SHA AS IF KBOTE WERE ONLY A LOYAL SUBJECT RATHER THAN THE SOVEREIGN DISGUISE. THE NOVEL’S CLIMACTIC END -- OR RATHER THE MENTARY’S -- SE THE NARRATOR TRACKED DOWN AT HIS NEW HOME BY AN ASSASS NAMED GRAD (A.K.A. “LENGRAD”) WHO HAS BEEN SELECTED BY A BAL OF MTED “ANTI-KARLISTS,” THE PARTY OF THE NEW ZEMBLAN ERNMENT, TO FALIZE THEIR REVOLUTN WH THE MURR THE HEAD OF THE ANCIEN REGIME. EXCEPT THAT GRAD MISS KBOTE AND MORTALLY WOUNDS SHA.THIS, AT LEAST, IS WHAT WE’RE MEANT TO SIGN OFF ON BY OUR DUB MENTATOR AND NARRATOR WHO, BY HIS OWN ADMISSN THE FOREWORD, IS OFTEN TAKEN FOR A MADMAN. AS WH LOLA, THE FIRST PAG OF WHICH ANNOUNCE THE ATH CHILDBIRTH OF “MRS. RICHARD SCHILLER” (NEE DOLOR HAZE), WE’RE STCTED HOW TO READ PALE FIRE PROPERLY AT S OUTSET: THIS SE, WH A POLICE TERROGATOR’S SKEPTICISM.AMONG THE QUTNS THAT ARE NEVER FIVELY ANSWERED ARE THE FOLLOWG. IS ZEMBLA A REAL UNTRY THE MA-UP WORLD OF THE NOVEL OR IS , LIKE BAKOV’S RSIAN EMPIRE, THE YIELD OF ONE MAN’S LORFUL IMAGG? IN A LETTER SENT TO NABOKOV’S PUBLISHER BEFORE PALE FIRE WAS RELEASED, VERA REFED TO ALLOW THAT ZEMBLA WAS “NON-EXISTENT.” RATHER, SHE WROTE, “NOBODY KNOWS, NOBODY SHOULD KNOW—EVEN KBOTE HARDLY KNOWS—IF ZEMBLA REALLY EXISTS.” AND WHERE, EXACTLY, ARE THE ZEMBLAN “CROWN JEWELS” TO WHICH OUR NARRATOR REPEATEDLY REFERS BEE HIS TOTALARIAN SUCCSORS NEVER SUCCSFULLY CHIVVY THEM OUT OF THEIR UNDISCLOSED HIDG PLACE THE ZEMBLAN PALACE, WHICH BE KG CHARL’ TEMPORARY PRISON? IN THE APPENDIX TO PALE FIRE, WHICH OF URSE NSTUT PART OF THE NOVEL SELF, THE ENTRY FOR “CROWN JEWELS” LEADS TO ANOTHER ENTRY FOR “HIDG PLACE,” WHICH LEADS TO “POTAYNIK” (THE ZEMBLAN WORD FOR “SECRET PLACE”), WHICH LEADS TO “TAYNIK” (THE RSIAN WORD FOR ), WHICH LEADS BACK TO “CROWN JEWELS” -- AN FE REGRSN LOOP, OTHER WORDS, AND ONE OF NABOKOV’S PARTG TRICKS. FALLY, WHAT IS KBOTE’S “EXTRAORDARY SECRET,” WHICH HE CLAIMS SHA ME CLOSE TO FIGURG OUT? SUPERFICIALLY THIS WOULD SEEM TO MEAN HIS INTY AS THE LAST KG OF ZEMBLA, BUT ULD ALSO REFER TO HIS TORTURED PROCLIVY FOR “FNLETS” (THE MALE VERSN OF NYMPHETS, OF WHICH LOLA IS THE MOST REGNIZED SPECIMEN), OR TO SOMETHG ELSE ENTIRELY.IN AN TERVIEW HE GAVE TO THE HERALD TRIBUNE AFTER PALE FIRE’S PUBLITN NABOKOV FLAT-OUT STATED THAT KBOTE WAS SANE AND HAD ACTUALLY MTED SUICI JT BEFORE HE WAS ABLE TO PLETE THE LAST ENTRY THE INX: THE ONE FOR ZEMBLA. THIS WAS NO ACCINT.AND ONE OF THE FIRST REVIEWS OF PALE FIRE, AND PROBABLY THE MOST ADULATORY, MARY MCCARTHY NNECTED KBOTE’S HOMELAND TO “NOVA ZEMBLA, A GROUP OF ISLANDS THE ARCTIC OCEAN, NORTH OF ARCHANGEL,” AND TO A PASSG REFERENCE OM ALEXANR POPE’S ESSAY ON MAN NOTG THE UNEXPLORED POLAR NORTH: “AT GREENLAND, ZEMBLA, OR THE LORD KNOWS WHERE.” (POPE’S POEM ALSO MAK MENTN, AS KBOTE RMS , TO “LUNATIC A KG,” AN ALLN WE’RE TOLD WAS SCBBED OM AN EARLIER DRAFT OF SHA’S POEM.)IN FACT, NOVA ZEMBLA ONCE HAD A “KG,” ALBE AN UNTEND ONE. THERE WERE THREE DUTCH VOYAG TO THE ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO THE 16TH CENTURY. AS PZER NOT, “THE FIRST FOUND LUCK, THE SEND MISFORTUNE, AND THE THIRD AN EQUAL MEASURE OF BOTH.” ALL WERE LED BY WILLIAM BARENTS, HE OF THE FAMO STRA, WHO SOUGHT TO FD A SHORTER TRA ROUTE OM EUROPE TO CHA. WRONG TURNS, MAN-HUNGRY POLAR BEARS AND ICE TRAPS IMPED HIS PLAN. IN MAY 1596, HIS EXPEDN RAN AGROUND ON THE NORTHERN EDGE OF NOVA ZEMBLA, AND HIS SHIP WAS STROYED BY MOVG GLACIERS. BARENTS AND HIS MEN FASHNED A B OUT OF DRIFTWOOD AND SPENT THE WTER THERE, EMERGG FALLY ON TWELFTH NIGHT, JANUARY 5TH, 1597, WHERE THEY CELEBRATED AT AN OZEN BANQUET AND DREW STRAWS TO BE THE FIRST KG OF NOVA ZEMBLA, “AN IMAGARY MONARCH,” PZER WR, “ A LAND OF ICE AND ATH, A LER OVER HOPE AND SPAIR, A KG OF NOTHG.”MADMEN PRETENDG TO BE MONARCHS IS A THEME AS OLD AS RSIA HERSELF, AND NABOKOV HAD A FEW FALSE STARTS GETTG BACK TO FOLKLORIC BASICS, BEGNG 1940 WH A PROJECT LLED SOL REX, HIS FAL, ABANDONED FICTN WRTEN HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE. HE TRIED AGA 1957, WRG TO HIS DOUBLEDAY EDOR JASON EPSTE THAT HE’D LIKE HIS NEXT NOVEL TO BE ABOUT A NORTHERN KG OM THE OLD WORLD WHO FLE TO AMERI AND PROBLEMS FOR THE KENNEDY ADMISTRATN. IT WASN’T UNTIL HE FISHED HIS EXHSTIVE 1,300-PAGE TRANSLATN AND ANNOTATN OF PHK’S EUGENE ONEG, HOWEVER, THAT NABOKOV SET TO WORK EARNT. HE FIRST PLETED THE 999-LE POEM “PALE FIRE” BEFORE HE GOT STARTED ON THE PROSE, WHICH HE GOT ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH BEFORE HE AND VERA MOVED TO WHAT WOULD BE THEIR FAL RINCE: THE MONTRX PALACE HOTEL ON LAKE GENEVA. IT WAS 1961, THE YEAR THE BERL WALL WENT UP, AMERIN AND SOVIET TANKS SQUARED OFF AT THE MARTN LE SEPARATG THE EE WORLD OM THE EASTERN BLOC, AND KHSHCHEV BEGAN TONATG THERMONUCLEAR BOMBS AT NOVA ZEMBLA.NABOKOV HAD ALREADY HEARD OF THE ISLANDS YEARS EARLIER; THEY WERE GOG TO PLAY A B ROLE HIS 1957 PROJECT PROPOSAL TO EPSTE; AND 1959, A HAD WRTEN RMG HIM THAT THEIR GREAT-GRANDFATHER, MAY HAVE BEEN THE REASON THAT A NABOKOV RIVER RAN THROUGH THE ARCTIC REGN. BUT FOR PZER, THE TE BREAKER WAS THE WTERN PRS:“DURG HIS DAILY READG OF THE NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE SWZERLAND, [NABOKOV] WOULD HAVE SEEN MORE THAN A DOZEN ONT-PAGE STORI MENTNG NOVA ZEMBLA. NOVA ZEMBLA APPEARED ON MAPS NEWSPAPERS AROUND THE GLOBE, WH FALL-OUT PATTERNS NOTED. DEBAT OVER SAFE RADIATN LEVELS NTUED. MILK WAS TTED TO SEE IF CHILDREN SHOULD STILL DRK , AND AT THE TWENTY-SEND PARTY CONGRS MOSW KHSHCHEV ANNOUNCED PLANS TO TONATE A 50-MEGATON HYDROGEN BOMB. THE UN TOOK UP THE ISSUE, AND AFTER LONG BAT, FALLY PASSED A ROLUTN IMPLORG THE SOVIETS NOT TO EXPLO THE MONSTER VICE.”KHSHCHEV DID ANYWAY, ON OCTOBER 30, WHEN HE DROPPED TSAR BOMBA, A WEAPON OF MASS STCTN SO GIGANTIC, PARTS OF THE AIRCRAFT’S FELAGE HAD TO BE REMOVED TO RRY . WHEN THE VICE WENT OFF, REGISTERG AN EXPLOSN TEN TIM MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL THE BOMBS ED WORLD WAR II BED, STROYED BUILDGS A 75-E RADI, ACTURED GLASS 500 AWAY, AND, AS PZER OBSERV, “[T]RACE LEVELS OF RADIATN CROSSED THE NTENT TO THE NABOKOVS’ SUE MONTRX.”THE SOVIETS STOPPED SETTG OFF N AT NOVA ZEMBLA AFTER THAT, OWG TO TERNATNAL PRSURE. SEVERAL WEEKS LATER, NABOKOV LIVERED THE MANCRIPT FOR PALE FIRE. BUT FOR THIS RSIAN THOR THERE SIMPLY WAS NO MORAL EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN SUPERPOWER PROLIFERATN EFFORTS. NABOKOV WAS A EPLY NSERVATIVE LD WARRR WHO LOATHED LEN, WHOM HE PARED TO “THE PAIL OF THE K OF HUMAN KDNS WH A AD RAT AT THE BOTTOM,” AND FOLLOWED “THAT LE OF NDUCT WHICH MAY BE THE MOST DISPLEASG TO THE REDS AND THE RSELLS,” MEANG BERTRAND, THEN PRINT OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. PALE FIRE IS FTOONED WH ATOMIC REFERENC AND A MOCKERY OF PEACENIKS. AS PORTRAYED BY KBOTE, SHA’S POLICS ARE QUE OBVLY NABOKOV’S OWN. DELETED L OF “PALE FIRE” ARE SAID TO CLU:“AN AGE THAT THKS SPACEBOMBS AND SPACHIPS TAKE A GENI WH A FOREIGN NAME TO MAKE,WHEN ANY JACKASS N RIG UP THE STUFF;AN AGE WHICH A PACK OF ROGU N BLUFFTHE SELENOGRAPHER; A IC AGETHAT SE DR. SCHWEZER A GREAT SAGE.”NOT OF NABOKOV’S OWN POLICS AND WORLDWI FAME ARE EVEN STCK SYNCHRONOLY AS THIS STROPHE WHICH MA TO SHA’S FAL VERSN:“IT WAS A YEAR OF TEMPTS: HURRINELOLA SWEPT OM FLORIDA TO GLOWED. SHAHS MARRIED. GLOOMY RSIANS SPIED.”KBOTE AT ONE POT REFERS TO A WORDSMH PHYSICS PROFSOR, A “SO-LLED PK, WHO BELIEVED WHAT SO-LLED PKS BELIEVE (PROGRSIVE EDUTN, THE INTEGRY OF ANYONE SPYG FOR RSIA, FALL-OUTS OCSNED SOLELY BY US-MA BOMBS, THE EXISTENCE THE NEAR PAST OF A MCCARTHY ERA, SOVIET ACHIEVEMENTS CLUDG DR. ZHIVAGO, AND SO FORTH).” (NABOKOV HATED PASTERNAK’S MASTERPIECE, THOUGH ’D BE CHURLISH TO SUGGT THAT THIS WAS ONLY BEE NUDGED LOLA OUT OF THE TOP SPOT ON THE BTSELLERS’ LIST 1959. HE RATHER UNFAIRLY THOUGHT THE BOOK SO PONRO AND PESTRIAN AS TO HAVE LIKELY BEEN WRTEN BY PASTERNAK’S MISTRS, WHILE VERA LLED FODR FOR “PRO-COMMIE” IDTS, A JUDGMENT THAT NO DOUBT WOULD HAVE SURPRISED SOVIET CULTURAL MISSARS AT THE TIME WHO BANNED DR. ZHIVAGO.)THE ONLY REFERENCE TO THE REAL NOVA ZEMBLA PALE FIRE OCCURS WHEN KBOTE IS MISTAKEN BY AN AMERIN HISTORY PROFSOR FOR ANOTHER MAN BORN RSIA NAMED EHER BOTK OR BOTKE, A LS ARTFUL ANAGRAM, ONE ADMS, THAN SIG LEYMANSKI. KBOTE SAYS PROFSOR PARDON IS “‘NFG ME WH SOME REFUGEE OM NOVA ZEMBLA’ [SARSTILLY STRSG THE ‘NOVA’].”SO WAS NABOKOV, VENTRILOQUIZG THROUGH HIS UNHGED AND UNTSTWORTHY NARRATOR, DRAWG A DISTCTN BETWEEN THE REAL ARCTIC WASTELAND OM A MA-UP KGDOM, OR WAS HE NFLATG THE TWO PLAC? HE’D LATER ADM THAT PROFSOR PARDON WAS RRECT, FURNISHG ANOTHER PLUM: KBOTE WAS BOTK/BOTKE.AS HAPPENS, SEVERAL MORE PLUMS ARE BURIED THROUGHOUT THE TEXT AS MUNDANE REFERENC TO THE NEW YORK TIM, CLUDG A STORY ABOUT KHSHCHEV NCELG A TRIP TO SNDAVIA TO VIS ZEMBLA STEAD AND EMBRACE S PEOPLE AS “FELLOW UNTRYMEN” ICH-B-E-BERLER FASHN. THE NCELED TRIP DID HAPPEN AND WAS WRTEN UP THE TIM ON JULY 21, 1959, THE DAY THAT GRAD READS ABOUT -- ALBE DISTORTED THROUGH KBOTE’S NARRATIVE PRISM -- SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVG NEW YORK CY WHERE HE CLOS ON THE FUGIVE KG’S NEW ENGLAND HIAWAY.IN THAT SAME TERVIEW HE GAVE TO ALED APPEL ( 1967) NABOKOV NFSED THAT “[I]N MON WH PHK, I AM FASCATED BY FATIDIC DAT.” FOR PZER, THE GREY LADY’S RECURRENCE THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL -- AND THE MATCHG OF REAL-WORLD EVENTS WH THEIR FICTNAL UNTERPARTS -- OFFERS PROOF THAT NABOKOV WAS ED FLUENCED BY GLOBAL HEADL, AND NOT JT THOSE THAT CROSSED HIS SK AS HE BURNED THROUGH THE FAL PROOFS OF PALE FIRE. ONE HEADLE, S EARLIER, MT HAVE STCK HIM WH THE FORCE OF TSAR BOMBA. IN 1955, ABOUT TWO YEARS BEFORE HE BEGAN THE IAL WORK ON THE BOOK, A STORY APPEARED THE TIM ABOUT JOHN NOBLE, AN AMERIN WHO HAD SURVIVED WORLD WAR II GERMANY ONLY TO BE ARRTED BY THE SOVIETS, THEN SENT TO BUCHENWALD (NOW A RSIAN-N TENTN FOR POWS), BEFORE FALLY BEG DISPATCHED TO A AL-MG LABOR MP NORTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE LLED VORKUTA. ACRDG TO NOBLE’S RELLECTN THE TIM, THE ABSOLUTE WORST PLACE THAT ZEKS OF VORKUTA BELIEVED THEY ULD WD UP WAS A WHISPERED-ABOUT LONY LLED NOVA ZEMBLA, “OM WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN.” NOBLE’S ACUNT, SERIALIZED OVER THE URSE OF THREE DAYS, BEME A BTSELLG MEMOIR, I WAS A SLAVE RSIA.IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME THE NEWSPAPER HAD WRTEN ABOUT NOVA ZEMBLA. THE EARLIT REFERENCE TO THE MPS ON THE ARCTIC ISLAND CHA WAS ON AUGT 28, 1922 AN ARTICLE ENTLED, “EXILED RSIANS TO LEAVE THIS YEAR,” WHICH RAN BOTH THE NEW YORK TIM AND THE TIM OF LONDON. THE RSIANS QUTN WERE SOCIALIST REVOLUTNARI AND SOME OF THE FIRST POLIL CRIMALS SENTENCED BY THE NEW REGIME, ALONG WH ARTISTS AND TELLECTUALS WHO HADN’T FOUND FAVOR LEN’S WORKERS’ STATE. MARCH 28, 1922 WAS THE DATE THAT VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH MET A CZARIST LOYALIST’S BULLET BERL, THE FIRST CY OF THE NABOKOV FAY’S EXILE OM ST. PETERSBURG. WHAT IS THE LIKELIHOOD THAT HIS SON, ASSUMG HE READ OF THE PLIGHT OF NON-BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTNARI FIVE MONTHS TO THE DAY OF HIS VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH’S MURR, WOULDN’T HAVE REGISTERED THE LENDRIC SYMMETRY WH A SENSE OF ISSON?STORI ABOUT THE EARLY VICTIMS OF BOLSHEVIK TERROR WEREN’T NFED TO OBSCURE NEWS EMS; THEY RAN ALL OVER EUROPE AND THE UNED STAT AND EVEN APPEARED, ON AUGT 30, 1922, RUL, THEN THE LARGT RSIAN-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER PRTED GERMANY, WH WHICH NABOKOV WAS TIMATELY ACQUATED: NOT ONLY HAD PUBLISHED SOME OF HIS APPRENTICE WORK, BUT RUL WAS -FOUND BY VLADIMIR DMRIEVICH.“WH THE MPS, SI RSIA, AND ACROSS EUROPE AND AMERI,” PZER WR, “NOVA ZEMBLA HAD BEEN FEARED AS THE CELT OUTPOST OF THE MP SYSTEM, A PLACE OF TERROR FOR ALL OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV’S ADULT LIFE.” NEARLY FORTY YEARS LATER, HE’D GIVEN FABULIST EXPRSN ONE OF HIS GREATT WORKS OF ART, BY MAKG HIS “PARANOID, BROKEN NARRATOR [HAIL] OM A NIGHTMARE RNER OF THE GULAG.” AND THAT PALE FIRE ME OUT 1962, THE SAME YEAR AS A NEW RSIAN NOVELIST AND SURVIVOR OF THE GULAG MA HIS LERARY BUT WH A DAY THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH, IS ANOTHER FATIDIC CINCE WORTHY OF PHK.ALEKSANDR SOLZHENSYN’S BGRAPHY STALKS NABOKOV’S CHAPTER BY CHAPTER THE SECRET HISTORY, CULMATG THE MOST FAMO LUNCH MEETG THAT NEVER WAS, WHEN THE NEWLY EXILED SOLZHENSYN AND HIS WIFE NATALIA, FOR REASONS UNKNOWN, TURNED THEIR R AROUND MONTRX 1974 AND NEVER SHOWED UP TO DE WH VLADIMIR AND VERA AT THE PALACE HOTEL’S SALON MIQUE. CHARACTERISTILLY, NABOKOV HAD RID SOLZHENSYN AS ANOTHER THIRD-RATE SOVIET SCRIBBLER; HE ALSO SPECTED THE FORMER ZEK OF POSSIBLE KGB TI UNTIL THE PUBLITN OF THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO DISPELLED ALL DOUBTS ABOUT SOLZHENSYN’S IMPORTANCE AS A DISSINT. NOW A NOBEL LREATE, THE YOUNGER RSIAN ENORMOLY ADMIRED THE OLR EMIGRE AND EVEN ADVANCED HIS NAME FOR THE SAME SWEDISH PRIZE, A LREL THAT WOULD ELU NABOKOV FOR THE RT OF HIS LIFE.SO WHAT DO THE REAR, NOW RACG ANTILLY TO POEM AND MENTARY SEARCH OF SOVIET PRISON REFERENC, FD BY WAY OF RROBORATN UPON A RE-READG PALE FIRE?PZER MENTNS THE “OZEN MUD AND HORROR” KBOTE’S HEART, AS WELL AS THE “TALE OF TORTURE WRTEN THE BISED AND BRAND SKY,” WHICH HE’D HOPED WOULD AMOUNT TO THE ALLEGORY OF ZEMBLA THAT SHA TOLD HIS EPIC POEM. FURTHERMORE, I DISVERED THAT SHA REFERS TO THE ACT OF SHAVG AS PLOUGHG “OLD ZEMBLA’S FIELDS WHERE MY GRAY STUBBLE GROWS, / AND SLAV MAKE HAY BETWEEN MY MOUTH AND NOSE.” UPON GRAD’ ARRIVAL NEW YORK, ON JULY 20, 1959, THE ASSASS CHECKS TO A SEEDY HOTEL AND GO TO BED “STRIPED PAJAMAS--THE KD ZEMBLANS LLED SKER SIRSER (‘RSIAN SEERSUCKER SU’),” WHICH SOUND A LOT TO ME LIKE A NABOKOVIAN PHEMISM FOR AN MATE’S UNIFORM. (IN THE NAZI-N NENGAMME NCENTRATN MP, WHERE VLADIMIR’S BROTHER SERGEI PERISHED, PART OF THE MAT’ HODGEPODGE ATTIRE NSISTED OF RECTANGULAR CLOTH CUT-OUTS KNOWN AS “RSIAN SOCKS.”)ONCE THE SOVET STATE ARCHIV WERE OPENED THE 1990S, PZER NCLUS, THE HISTORIL RERD OF NOVA ZEMBLA WAS SHOWN TO BE A SHA MORE PLITED THAN EHER THE TIM OR JOHN NOBLE HAD SUPPOSED. THERE WERE NO WARTIME FIL ABOUT MG OR MP OPERATNS ON THE MA ISLANDS SPE MORS AND LEGENDS TO THE NTRARY. MOREOVER, THE ACTUAL SE FOR A PRISON LONY WAS NOT LOTED ON THE ARCHIPELAGO’S NORTHERNMOST ISLANDS BUT ON S SOUTHERNMOST. MORE PORTENTO FOR NABOKOV, IF ONLY HE ULD HAVE KNOWN 1961, WAS THE FACT THAT 1922 THE SOCIALIST REVOLUTNARI DO NOT APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN SENT TO NOVA ZEMBLA AT ALL; THEY WERE MOST LIKELY SENT TO SOLOVKI, ANOTHER OZEN ISLAND CHA AND ONE TO WHICH SOLZHENSYN HAD PAID AMPLE ATTENTN THE SEND VOLUME OF THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO. IT WAS HERE, THIS DREAD WHE SEA LONY, THAT THE STALIST NOVELIST MAXIM GORKY PAID A VIS 1926 AND THEN RETURNED TO MOSW TO WRE OF HOW IMPRSED HE’D BEEN BY THE SPECTACLE CIVILIZED SOVIET REHABILATN—THIS SPE OF RIDICULO POTEMK EFFORTS TO VER UP THE RAMPANT STARVATN AND ILLNS, AND GORKY’S BEG TOLD BY A CHILD-PRISONER OF THE GOME TORTUR DISPENSED THERE WHEN DIGNARI WEREN’T ATTENDANCE. SOLOVKI, AS TURNS OUT, IS ALSO WHERE THE BOLSHEVIKS WENT LOOKG FOR THE CZAR’S HIDN IMPERIAL TREASUR AN EXVATN MPAIGN REMISCIENT OF THE ANTI-KARLISTS.SO HERE, THEN, WERE THE “CROWN JEWELS” ALL ALONG: NOT THE GEMS OF THE ZEMBLAN MONARCHY, MUCH LS THOSE OF THE ROMANOVS. THEY WERE THE RSIANS OF THE LIBERAL TRADN, THE TE HEIRS TO THE UNTRY HIJACKED BY TYRANTS. AS THE TIM PUT ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1922, THE COMMUNISTS WERE HUNTG FOR BBL BUT THEY WERE “THROWG TO THE ARCTIC SEA OR OVER SOVIET BORRS A CULTURE MORE PREC THAN THE WEALTH OF THOSE HOARD JEWELS,” THAT IS, THE POETS AND PATERS AND PHILOSOPHERS OF A RSIA THAT NEVER WOULD BE, MEN LIKE NABOKOV’S FATHER AND IENDS, WHOUT WHICH THE NEW RSIAN NATN WAS BOUND TO BEE A GIANT, “SHUT-OFF NOVA ZEMBLA.”AND HERE’S KBOTE’S “EXTRAORDARY SECRET”: HE IS NABOKOV’S HNTED AND BROKEN AND IMAGATIVE CHRONICLER OF SOVIET TERROR. MICHAEL WEISS