In Kenneth Tynan’s autobiography, Lipstick on My Niece’s Bib, he recalls an incident wherein an “editorial mandarin” (George Plimpton) asked Nabokov to outline his vision of the artist’s role in contemporary society. Nabokov paused; then a broad grin broke across his face. “Here I must lower myself to respond by analogy”, he said. “We must not forget, the first cotton candy machine was invented by a dentist. The parallel is exact, yes?”