Nabokov fans know that many of his Russian works were translated into English by his son, Dmitri. But I bet there's a lot about Dmitri that you don't know. While still working my way through Our Private Lives, I discovered a chapter from Dmitri Nabokov's journal and learned quite a bit about him.
Nabokov the Younger was accepted into Harvard Law and declined, so this combined with his bilingual (and I think more than bi) skills tells you he's no dummy. He was also quite a successful opera singer. On top of this, he spent much of his youth climbing mountains. You know, for fun. (His journal excerpt is peppered with names of other mountain climbing friends, casually followed by "he died three years later on top of Mount ___"). Once the thrill of mountaineering wore off, he began racing cars. Finally dissuaded from this in the interest of keeping himself safe to sing, he then moved on to speedboat racing. He was also in a life-threatening car accident, due, he notes diffidently, to someone tampering with his car with the intent to kill him.
At this point, I am pretty sure Dmitri Nabokov does not exist. This is clearly a character Nabokov himself invented, a literary version of a son.
EXCEPT. Dmitri Nabokov HAS A WEBLOG.
Does that not deserve all caps? I kind of think it does.
So, running with my theory that Dmitri Nabokov is an invented person, don't we have to assume that his father is still secretly alive, and maintaining this blog in the character of his imaginary son?
And the logical next question is: how has Sean never written about this? Zembla, over to you.
Have you seen this child?
