Thursday 16 October 2008

My Conversation With Nabokov

The other night I dreamt that I was talking to Vladimir Nabokov. Actually it was more a matter of him talking to me - which he was doing in Russian-accented French, much of which was proving hard to understand. Sensing this, he inquired - in French - if I didn't habitually converse in French when at home. 'Pas totalement,' I replied, which seemed to amuse him slightly.
I remember no more, and have no idea what it can have meant. I'd sooner have been dreaming - as Nabokov did on a good night - of butterflies.

5 comments:

  1. You weren't at the Bols over there in Holland were you Nige?

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  2. I often dream that I'm talking with writers. Martin Amis once snubbed me in a dream, which I imagine was rather like how it would be in real life. Clive James was an absolute delight, however.

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  3. Avignon ... Demoiselles ... Harlequin ...

    Just so long as you don't dream you are one of Nabokov's butterflies and then wake up to realize you've done a Kafka and now have eight legs and a proboscis. It sounds as if he is trying to tell you something but it is getting lost in translation or you are impatient and don't want to listen carefully enough.

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  4. Take a good dollop of "Pnin" and call in sick tomorrow morning.

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  5. Well I've already got the proboscis Mark...

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