90. Brian Boyd: The life & works of Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, and writing biographies

Brian Boyd is a Distinguished Professor in English and Drama at the University of Auckland. We talk mainly about Vladimir Nabokov: Brian wrote the defining biography on Nabokov (in addition to books on more specific aspects about Nabokov), so we discuss Nabokov's life & work, Brian's approachh to writing biographies, with some hints of the new biography Brian is writing about Karl Popper.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
0:00:00: Why this is a special episode for me
0:07:02: Nabokov's family & childhood
0:15:54: The Russian Revolution, starting in 1917
0:19:52: Nabokov's study years in Cambridge and emigre years in Berlin in the 1920s and 30s
0:30:19: Nabokov's early American years: teaching and butterflies
0:35:56: Nabokov's Russian vs English works, and the problem of translations
0:41:48: Lolita
0:50:13: Pale Fire
1:02:46: Nabokov's writing process
1:07:26: Nabokov's reception
1:10:00: Writing Nabokov's biography: how it started, meeting Nabokov's family, researching and writing, and the responsibility of writing the defining work on someone
1:28:26: Which Nabokov book should new readers read first?
1:30:58: A book or paper more people should read
1:35:03: Something Brian wishes he'd learnt sooner
1:38:47: Advice for PhD students/postdocs

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Brian's links

• Website: https://geni.us/boyd-web

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

The estate Nabokov inherent and immediately lost in th revolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozhdestveno_Memorial_Estate

Ada online, Brian's line-by-line annotations to Nabokov's Ada: https://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/

Boyd (1985/2001). Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness.
Boyd (1990). Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years.
Boyd (1991). Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years.
Boyd & Pyle (eds) (2000).  Nabokov’s Butterflies .
Boyd (2001). Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery.
Grass (1959). Die Blechtrommel.
James (1897). What Maisie Knew.
Machado de Assis (1882). The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas. [The 2 new translations are by Thomson-DeVeaux (Penguin Classics), and by Jull Costa & Patterson (Liveright)]
Nabokov (1929). The (Luzhin) Defense.
Nabokov (1936). Invitation to a Beheading.
Nabokov (1947). Bend Sinister.
Nabokov (1955). Lolita.
Nabokov (1957). Pnin.
Nabokov (1962). Pale Fire.
Nabokov (1967). Speak, Memory.
Nabokov (1969). Ada or Ardor.
Tarnowsky (1908). Les femmes homicides. [Nabokov's great-aunt; see also:  Huff-Corzine & Toohy (2023). The life and scholarship of Pauline Tarnowsky: Criminology's mother. Journal of Criminal Justice]
Vila, Bell, Macniven, Goldman-Huertas, Ree, Marshall, ... & Pierce (2011). Phylogeny and palaeoecology of Polyommatus blue butterflies show Beringia was a climate-regulated gateway to the New World. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.