Nabokov in Montreux: 1965 Interview

i love him so much 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Nabokov was in denial about his Freudian tendencies by virtue of his novel Lolita.

Thanks so much Maxim for posting this wonderful interview. So many unexpected surprises. VN sweet and vulnerable? Who would have thought ? He hides nothing. Just look at his pleasure with his cards and that Florentine pencil . Or calling his Lolita editions pretty. VN actually using the word ´pretty´? Not to forget his child like happiness in the chess game with his wife. It was especially good to hear him describe his writing process as never smooth sailing. Anna

Thank you very much.

Simply extraordinary! Thank you

Nabokov is more relaxed here without index cards than he was with Trilling on the program "Close Up" discussing Lolita with index cards. There's also a dearth of televised interviews with his younger cousin, Nicolas Nabokov; a composer, cultural ambassador, and friend of Stravinsky.

Translating his own work in his first language? Lol.

freud was a DISGUSTING creature
Hope Hell is Hot fer ya

Wooooooooooooooooow !!!! At last !!!! I have been looking for years for this interview !!! This is the perfect birthday present so thank you so much !!!!! :)

Didn't know he disliked Freud.

even after decades of living in the west he didn't develop an accent when he spoke russian

He was a snob but at the end of his life he accomplished what he wanted to have: to live in a palace and to be served. 😀

I'd understood/read that he insisted on having questions submitted in advance, so as to prepare his answers and read out responses.
So this surprises me.

Важно было услышать голос Владимира Набокова и видеть ,чтобы почувствовать его как человека. Спасибо! Его точная эмоционально поэзия для мыслящих людей неповторима, человеческая редкость. Ей мало уделяется внимания, вывод конечно неутешительный.

I remember watching interviews of this sort back in the 60's on WTTW channel 11 in Chicago. I was a kid with a nose for this kind of thing.

What a pleasure to see the old master talk about his work and his process, to see him acting so casual. Thank you very much for this video!

Huge upload!

Thank you Dr. Shrayer, for giving us the chance to enjoy Nabokov's presence at our homes!!

This interview was very pleasant, especially in these troubled times! Very interesting a true citizen of the world! RIP Vladimir 🙏🙏🙏🙏 Where was I then in 1965, oh yes, in elementary school! I find it a very moving and profound interview!

His French is good.

O.f.i.g.e.t.🤦🏻‍♂️ I could never imagine I would see Nabokov speaking English.

Of course he wouldn't like the word or concept: humility

I didn't know he spoke with a burr in Russian.

If we did not already have Lolita I do not think that it could be published today.

Окey. But there's a touch of his mother tongue. Russian feels.

"...like a hypnotised person making love to a chair." Wonderful.

Truly thankful for sharing such wonderful interview with us! 🧡

calling updike an artist and faulkner 'corn-cobby' is peak nabokov

Delightful on so many levels. Thank you for sharing. 😊

The beginning is absolutely epic. EPIC. 😄

Nabokov's attack on Freud instantiates the very Philistinism he condemned in one of his better writings of lthat title; worse, that a genius like Nabokov had to "take second jobs" and "eek out a living proves that Philistinery has in fact won the Kulturkampf. But Freud was as far from Medieval as Voltaire, dear master novelist, and your "dreams" are up for penalty, but if you grant hypnosis, mental cause, and the Unconscious exist, which you just did when savaging Mann, well gee you are a Freudian.

Came across to me as a bit full of himself... particularly when reading from his own paedophilic novel

fascinating in subject and presentation

Pompous and unpleasant.
Would move away to another table at the Café Odeon if he had come in , as would my writer friends.

who was between kafka and proust? couldn't understand..!

A real LEGEND🤩💪🙏🏻😇

So glad he understood Freud was crazy, Jung not far behind.

Thank you, Dr. Shrayer, for the opportunity and pleasure not only to read this interview but also to watch it.
If you have in possession the video of interview to Mossman and can upload it as well, that would be very kind of you.

So glad to hear him mention Salinger and Updike!

As Mr Nabokov concerning his interviews, no words come to me as I try to express my gratitude for this video. It's a rare experience to watch this great writer speaking for himself.

I am so glad this is up! Never knew he was on film at this time...

and good old Vlad, my favourite writer save Tolstoy, claimed he was never ever drunk. hahaha. and that he detested music. but not film, mates. not film.

What a delight. Thanks for posting.

enjoyed every second

what a gem
thank you!

thanks for posting this. Such a treat.