Perfectly Human
Jenny Diski: Lillie Langtry and Mrs Vladimir Nabokov, 1 July 1999
Lillie Langtry: Manners, Masks and Morals
by Laura Beatty.
Chatto, 336 pp., £20, March 1999,1 85619 513 9 Show More
by Laura Beatty.
Chatto, 336 pp., £20, March 1999,
Véra (Mrs Vladimir Nabokov): Portrait of a Marriage
by Stacy Schiff.
Random House, 456 pp., $27.95, April 1999,0 679 44790 3 Show More
by Stacy Schiff.
Random House, 456 pp., $27.95, April 1999,
“... lived in the margins, but then as Nabokov teaches us – sometimes the commentary is the story.’ Laura Beatty, however (including the word ‘Morals’ in the title for more than mere alliterative satisfaction), prefaces her tale of Lillie Langtry with the following deadly judgment: ‘Motivation is the key to character, and Lillie’s reasons for doing ... ”
