Nabokov Museum in St. Petersburg attacked by vandals
Several news outlets are reporting that a group calling itself the “St. Petersburg Cossacks” may be responsible for vandalism that broke a window of the Nabokov Museum in St. Petersburg. A note inside a bottle found in the museum warned the staff of “God’s wrath.”
Some conservative Russians see Lolita as propaganda for pedophilia and object to Nabokov on moral grounds. This is the latest in a series of actions protesting cultural exhibits and places around the city seen as blasphemous or un-Christian, and may represent a first step toward using violence in these protests.
I’ll write more about the attack in the context of other events in Russia once more information is available on what happened at the museum (which also happens to be Nabokov’s birthplace). In the meantime, here is one of the most detailed reports that has appeared so far, from the state-owned Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
UPDATE: Here’s another story, from RT, with more details on outrage in recent months over Lolita. (To be clear, however, Nabokov did not win a Nobel Prize.)
