Posted by Roger Boylan on Friday, February 24, 2012
Dimitri Nabokov, pictured above, has died, aged 77. I corresponded with him
about his father's work--he was especially generous in his praise of an
essay of mine on that topic--and about the cars in his life. There were
many. He was an expert racing driver and an aficionado of Italian iron,
especially that produced under the sign of the rearing horse, in
Maranello. I wrote an article about his automotive career for
Autosavant, using generic photos of the cars referred to. He, having
read it, promptly sent me an entire album of photos of Ferraris and MGs
and Dodge Vipers and one splendid Bizzarini. Later, as a Christmas present, he sent me a copy of his father's controversial posthumous semi-novel "The Original of Laura."
In thanking him, I expressed the hope that I might call on him on my next
visit to Switzerland. The option remained open, until yesterday. RIP,
Dmitri.