excerpt from my interview with mitch de leon
SHARE 3 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT JULIA POGODINA BUT WOULD LIKE TO SHARE.
That’s my favorite question! It’s also the most difficult one *)
Hmm, three things.. Let me see!
1) So why “nymfea?” Despite of numerous associations you might have with this word, originally Nymfea was a boy – the main character of Sasha Sokolov’s novel “School for fools”; this boy suffered from split personality and irrevocable daydreaming, and every time he wanted to escape the harsh reality he “dissolved into Nymfea, a water lily with long brown stems” to travel along Leta river to the neverland where Leonardo was drawing his Mona Lisa and pearl-like dragonflies were circling above the water. I fell in love with the story when I was 14, and I wrote my own one inspired by Nymfea. That story won 1st place at the city literature contest, and during the time along with many coincidences, mysterious signs, and romantic stories “nymfea” became my intimate nickname and second self.
2) When I was 21, I was a managing director of Nabokov museum in St.Petersburg. It was the most romantic job one could have! Museum is located in Nabokov’s family house on Bolshaya Morskaya street where Vladimir Nabokov was born and his family lived before revolution. One of the most precious exhibits there were: his father’s encyclopedia on butterflies with young Vladmir Nabokov’s color pencil drawings; his pince-nez he wore later in life for occasions of picture taking (in reality he had a perfect eyesight!), and first edition of “Lolita” with his handwriting on the front page. It was magical to hold these things in your hands, to be so close to the life story of his amazing talent.
3) I don’t like chocolate! Unless it is a white one *)
full version of the interview can be read here
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