“My name or any such‐like phantom”: A Reading of Nabokov's (original) (raw)

Какое сделал я дурное дело, и я ли развратитель и злодей, я, заставляющий мечтать мир целый о бедной девочке моей? О, знаю я, меня боятся люди, и жгут таких, как я за волшебство, и, как от яда в полом изумруде, мрут от искусства моего. Но как забавно, что в конце абзаца корректору и веку вопреки, тень русской ветки будет колебаться на мраморе моей руки. Nabokov' s poem usually is considered in the context suggested by its first stanza, which imitates the third stanza from Pasternak's poem, The Nobel Prize. 1 Putting aside the much-discussed problem of Nabokov-Pasternak relations, here I shall consider Nabokov's poem in another context, one outlined briefly by D. Barton Johnson, who This article could not have been written without fruitful preliminary discussions with Professor Alexander Dolinin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who generously shared with me the fascinating observations contained in his extremely promising, forthcoming book, A Great Known: Vladimir Nabokov as a Russian Writer, and Professor Omry Ronen of the University of Michigan, who selflessly placed his extraordinary erudition and perspicacity at my disposal. 1 For details see D.