I am in love with Vladimir Nabokov, Russian turned American author of Lolita, Pale Fire and Speak, Memory. I love him so much I went to Montreux, a resort town in Switzerland, to talk to his statue, to pay homage to this great traveller, a traveller so profound that much of his life he lived in a hotel.
I was so inspired by our conversation that when I came back to New York I wrote two books about Nabokov and peculiarities of Russian versus American culture. Well, one could say, it is just one book, but in Nabokovian fashion I wrote it twice, just like Nabokov would — first in English, Imagining Nabokov, and then in Russian as Visiting Nabokov. So they are two different books meant for two different audiences.
My articles on Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Politics:
- “Nabokov’s Manuscripts Don’t Burn” The Moscow Times, December 4, 2009
- “Conservative Comrades: Nabokov and Buckley“ Russia!, Summer 2008
- “Imagining Nabokov: Death is But a Question of Style” Nabokov OnLine Journal, Spring/Summer 2007
- “Nabokov’s Big in Beijing” The Moscow Times, April 20, 2007
- “Vladimir Nabokov and the Russian Poets” Russian Studies in Literature, Fall 2006
- “Why not celebrating Nabokov is a tragedy” Financial Times, April 19, 2006
Imagining Nabokov Book Reviews:
- Volume 3/2009 Nabokov Online Journal (NOJ) Thomas Karshan, Review of Imagining Nabokov
- Volume 67/No.4 2009 Slavic Review Elizabeth Klosty Beaujour, Review of Imagining Nabokov
- December 24, 2008 The Moscow Times: Context (Russia) James Marson, “The Revolutions of History: Lessons of the past are the focus of the year’s best books related to Russia” (Best Book Debut)
- July 9, 2008 The New York Times-International Herald Tribune Sophia Kishkovsky, “Rethinking Nabokov as a ‘road map’ for modern Russia”
- June 2008 (6) Novyi Mir (Russia) Sergei Kostyrko, “Books: Visiting Nabokov” (in Russian, pp. 7-8)
- June 29, 2008 The New York Times Book Review Steve Coates, “Reading Lolita in Moscow” (a stunningly nasty review, but I am quite proud of it, even if it is The New York Times, and you want them to like you. But the guy seems to be treating my book with such venom that it is clear, he is pissed, He did not write that book! When the review came out, my friend called to ask me, “Did you date and dump him very cruelly? His anger is very personal.” No, I never met Mr. Coates, but he was a co-author, a writer perhaps, of some deadly boring thing on Nabokov’s butterflies. Obviously he would have rather had a fun conversation with (the statue of) our favorite author, just like I did. He missed out, he was looked over, and it was a Khrushchev — a blasphemy — a former Soviet, who got to have an intellectual romance with the greatest Russian aristocrat. My heart goes to Steve Coats!)
- June 5, 2008 Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Ex Libris (Russia) Yelena Dorogavtseva, “A Stone Guest: an elite textbook for emigrants” (in Russian)
- May 15-21, 2008 Kultura (Russia) Ninel Ismailova, “‘A reappraiser will declare me a rigid moralist’: Vladimir Nabokov performed by Nina Khrushcheva” (in Russian)
- May 8, 2008 The Moscow Times: Context (Russia) James Marson, “Speak, Nabokov”
- March 30, 2008 Knizhnoe Obozrenie (Russia) Andrei Miroshkin, “An Encounter in Montreux” (in Russian)
- March 8, 2008 Il Foglio Quotidiano (Italy) Amy Rosenthal on Imagining Nabokov (in Italian)
- February 14, 2008 The Economist (UK) “Vladimir Nabokov: Imagination Ablaze”
- January 19, 2008 National Post (Canada) Robert Fulford, “The myth of the Russian soul”
- January 18, 2008 National Post (Canada) Robert Fulford on why Russians need to read Vladimir Nabokov (full blog version)
- December 27, 2007 Vedomosti (Russia) Lord Robert Skidelsky, “Replacing Mozart with Salieri” (in Russian)
- December 24, 2007 Publishers Weekly NONFICTION Imagining Nabokov
Select TV/Radio Interviews:
- November 13, 2008 Guest on The Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC, segment “Underreported: Reform in Russia”
- October 29, 2008 Interview with The Book Show, ABC Radio National (Australia)
- February 29, 2008 Radio Interview with As it Happens, CBC (Canada)
- January 11, 2008 Guest on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, TV Ontario (Canada)
- December 23, 2007 Radio Interview with Live from the West Coast with Ian Masters, Pacifica Radio
Nina Khrushcheva 
William F. Buckley was for many years a segregationist and critic of the American civil rights movement. Racism has always been a part of American conservatism, whether blatant or subtle. This must be discussed in relation to William F. Buckley but is most often conveniently overlooked, especially by conservatives. True, his views did change over time but his faults can not be ignored. Unfortunately, the “tea party” of today is very much like the earlier William Buckley.