BOOKS
143
FROM THE MONTREUX PALACE HOTEL
NABOKOV: HIS LIFE IN PART. By Andrew
Field. The Viking Press.
$15.00.
The la te Vl adimir Nabo kov, who di ed just as thi s biography
appeared, played the public role-in intervi ews, polemi cs, and
prefaces- of a terrifyingly tes ty
m aitre
and slayer of fools. To think
even of visitin g him in hi s alpine fastness would seem audacious
enough. T o think of doing so repeatedl y for th e purpose of drawing
out of him the story of hi s life, and corro bora ting research done
elsewhere, would seem to require not audacity but a mind of impaired
balance. Yet tha t is wha t Andrew Field-the author both of a long
study of Nabokov's work and of the definiti ve bibliograph y–
undertook to do, in the ni ck of time as it sadl y turned out, and the
resultant book is a weirdl y a ttractive, innova tive, mi sshapen , self–
indul gent , in part vil ely written , oft en very funn y, and irresistibl y
fascinating study. In a blurb, Leon Edel prono unces it a work of a rt.
Well, it is empha ticall y not a work of schola rship, and if it is a work of
art, it is surely one dimini shed by the irksome bl a tancy with which it
awards itself that sta tu s, as the biographer pl ays sedul o us ape to his
subj ect. Nevertheless, the reader who can appreciate an ingenious
compositi onal tri ck, to be di scussed below, will find it possibl e to savor
even the apparent defects of thi s book and fo ll ow the absorbing story
with interest and pl easure.
But why should an yone require a biograph y of Nabokov in the
first place? There are many peopl e who regard hi s own autobi ograph y,
Speak, Mem ory,
as hi s grea tes t achi evement in prose, surpassing even
L olita
and
Pale Fire.
It
carri es the story up to the point of the author' s
arrival in America, and the sequel (the titl e of whi ch seems to be
Sp eak
On, Memory)
has been anti cipa ted for some time. Why, then , some
second-hand account of the life? The short answer is simpl y tha t
Speak,
Memory
resembl es numerous other Ru ss ian autobiographies in being
for
the most part about o ther peopl e. We are inside the subj ect's head
looking out , sharing hi s experiences, observing a vividl y rea lized
world, which appea rs to lack no thing but himself.
