Sunday Read: “The University Poem” by Vladimir Nabokov
The latest issue of the London Review of Books features a previously unpublished poem by Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov. “The University Poem”, concerning Nabokov’s time at Trinity College Cambridge and translated by his son Dimitri, will be published as part of Nabokov’s Collected Poems by Penguin in September:
1
‘So then you’re Russian? It’s the first time
I have met a Russian …’
And the lively, delicately bulging
eyes examine me. ‘You take your tea
with lemon, I already know.
I also know that you have icons
where you live, and samovars.’
A pretty girl. A British glow
spreads across her tender skin.
She laughs, she speaks at a quick clip:
‘Frankly, our town is dullish,
though the river’s charming!
Do you row?’ Big girl,
with sloping shoulders, hands that are large,
bereft of rings.
Book details
- Collected Poems by Vladimir Nabokov
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EAN: 9780141197173
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Photo courtesy The Telegraph
May
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