Letters to the Editor

Nabokoviana

To the Editors:

I am your long time fan.

I graduated from Yale in 1963 with a major in Russian language and have been in love with Russian literature ever since. One of my teachers at Yale was Nina Berberova.

In 1991, I co-founded in St. Petersburg with Professor George Tigliev (of the Polenov Institute), the first private practice of neurosurgery which thrives to this day.

I retired from neurosurgery two years ago.

With regard to the article by Oks on Nabokov (a personal friend of Berberova): for me the significance of the name Humbert Humbert in Lolita is not that which she ascribes to it. It is a cryptogram for the Russian form of the Latin word nemo: “no name,” which in Russian is N. The Russian form of the English “N” is “H.” Please see Onegin: Chapter 8, Strophe XXI. So Humbert was a double “nemo:” a Dvoynik.

Of course, the fact that this letter is also the first letter of his own last name certainly was purposeful for Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Мое почтение,

Frank S. Letcher, MD, FACS

President and CEO

Tulsa Symphony Orchestra

Tulsa, OK

Cultural Diplomacy

To the Editors:

Ah, yes! Darra Goldstein’s lovely piece about her experience as a guide-interpreter for the U.S. Information Agency’s exhibition [July/Aug 2007]... takes me back to the summer of ‘59 when my wife, Katia, she as a guide, and I, as press officer, and our four under five with baby sitter Louise, a Vassar girl, had the great adventure of that first U.S. national exhibition in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park. By far the most exciting summer of our lives. 

I am totally in sympathy with Darra’s misgivings about the boastful materialism in the exhibition on Agriculture in 1978... I had the same objections to the ‘59 show. Its biggest pavilion was a huge display of consumer goods. But it also had a handsome, free-standing pavilion devoted to Edward Steichen’s magnificent photographic essay, “The Family of Man” which many Russians cited as their favorite. 

I’m not totally sure that Darra and I were right. I would love to know what a survey of Russians who went to those exhibitions would show. 

As it happens, I was director of the U.S.I.A. Worldwide Exhibitions Service in 1978... At other times, I was editor of America magazine, that went to the Soviet Union, and a commentary writer for the Voice of America.

Darra in small measure, and I in large, faced the question: what do you do when you have a nifty job in a lousy administration? Nevertheless, like Ms. Goldstein, I could control to a good extent what I produced. Cultural propaganda was a good thing to do.

Years later, in 1969, at a tenth anniversary party the guides held at the Smithsonian, I found that Nixon, whom I had in the past despised and feared perhaps more than he deserved, and whom I stood next to as he debated Khrushchev in the kitchen of the ‘59 show, agreed with me. ... He came to the party. He was charming. He mixed and conversed with the crowd. He said, in effect: “I want to tell you: make no mistake about it, national policies, not cultural propaganda, drive world events. But I also assure you, cultural propaganda is one of the most important things a nation can do for itself.” 

I agreed with him. An excellent summary.

In any case, as it was for Mr. Nixon for a while, it was a great job. Thank you, American taxpayers!

Sincerely,

John Jacobs

Highland, NY 

Beetlemania

To the Editors:

The article about the Colorado Potato Beetle [July/Aug 2007] is very interesting. This is the type of problem I have been dealing with for many years. This is a well-worn story of a pest spread around the world by humans causing nearly worldwide harm... Human activities have altered the natural web of organisms, removing the natural parasites and predators from the scene... Cheap remedies are not considered.... There is no incentive for American pesticide companies to develop natural remedies [bio-pesticides] because there is little profit potential. So, people have to suffer needlessly....

Adrian Juttner

New Orleans, LA

To the Editors:

....It is hard to believe that this terrible pest is still a scourge in Eastern Europe when now there is a very effective way to stop it.

The pest can be easily controlled by a one-time application of a dilute solution of imidacloprid (Admire) directly into the hole while planting potato seedlings. I have had experience in Ukraine using this pesticide. It is extremely effective.

Cooperative programs tried in the past between the USA and Russia to eliminate the beetle have not worked for various strange reasons.

Russian Life is a great publication – especially for us non-Russian speaking readers.

Respectfully,

Clifford Netz

President

Hand-in-Hand Together

Maple Grove, MN