Template talk:Vladimir Nabokov

Why?

I'm sure this template is well-intended, but I can't see how it's any advance on categories. It seems to add a lot of flab to a number of short articles, e.g. Nine Stories. And it's not even comprehensive, what with the lack of the retitled new edition of the N-W letters, without the Lectures on Ulysses, etc. -- Hoary 14:16, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

(Just off the top of my head...)

This template allows easy access to all the articles about Nabokov's published writing, and is quite common for many writers (see Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Flannery O'Connor). Thus, when reading the aticle about Lolita, you don't have to navigate back to Nabokov and look for the novel he wrote after it, but simply go to the next novel listed in the template. The template also allows you, as an editor, to see which articles do not exist yet (N/W letters, lectures, many of the short stories) and need to be written.

As far as adding flab, no offense, but I don't really see the point of articles like Nine Stories if all they do is list the stories included in that particular collection (especially since all nine were also included in Nabokov's Dozen, which he himself composed). Such details could easily be covered in Nabokov's bibliography, where you could list all the various compilations of Nabokov's stories. (Note that Nine Stories, as well as all the other compilations, does not appear in the template. I think listing them all would be superfluous; if you think otherwise, please let me know why)

As for the N/W letters, within that article, which is yet to be written, we could place all the various titles, editions, and printings. If the "Bunny/Volodya" title is better known it can be used to replace the more prosaic "letters". If I left out any other books or stories, I apologize, I am only human, feel free to fill whatever gaps you find. This is, after all, a group effort. AshcroftIleum 00:56, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

The Annotated Lolita a "work of Nabokov"?

To the extent that the annotated Lolita is different from the original novel, it's a critical work by Alfred Appel, not a work by Nabokov. I'm inclined to remove it from the template. Dybryd 21:04, 16 September 2007 (UTC)