Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Did you know that Pnin might have actually been walking around college campuses? It's thought that a guy named Marc Szeftel is the real Pnin, and there's even a whole novel talking about how Nabokov's character came to be! (Source)
We're sure you have a burning desire to know what sort of watch the author of Pnin was wearing to tell the time (Time is a theme in here, right?). Well, turns out he was a Rolex guy. (Source)
Nabokov was definitely a different kind of guy from Pnin. Just read what he says about the movie version of Lolita: "'My supreme, and in fact only, interest in these motion picture contracts is money. I don't give a damn for what they call 'art.'" Sounds a lot more like VN than our gentle professor, huh? (Source)
It seems that critics are not big fans of Nabokov's last, incomplete work. It was released against his wishes after his death. Maybe they should have burned it? (Source)
You just can't get enough of Pnin, can you? Well, looks like you're in luck. He shows up again in Pale Fire as a professor at Wordsmith University. Guess he got a new job after all! (Source)