The Corner

Nabokov on Freud

A diligent reader has located the Nabokov/Freud quote I couldn’t.

[Interviewer]  Speaking  of  ideology,  you  have often expressed your hostility to Freud, most noticeably in the  forewords  to  your translated  novels. Some readers have wondered which of Freud’s works or theories you  were  most  offended  by  and  why.  The parodies of Freud in Lolita and Pale Fire suggest a  wider  familiarity  with  the good doctor than you have ever publicly granted. Would you comment on this?

[Nabokov]   Oh, I am not up to discussing again that figure of fun. He is not worthy of more attention than I have granted him  in  my novels  and  in Speak, Memory. Let the credulous and the vulgar continue to believe that all mental woes can be cured by a daily application of old Greek myths to their private  parts. I really do not care.

[Derb] The complete interview is here.

John Derbyshire — Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.
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