I am working intensively on PNIN.
I hope you and your family enjoy perfect health.
Sincerely,
Vladimir Nabokov
1. VN's translation in collaboration with Dmitri Nabokov was published by Doubleday in 1958.
TO: PASCAL COVICI
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, N.Y.
February 22, 1955
Dear Pat,
Many thanks for the Trilling book1 (incidentally, it went to an address where I do not live any more and travelled around for a while; your letters arrive at the right address, but your books do not).
The Hero of Our Time is an exciting novel, always fresh and readable. It is part of every course in Russian literature, and this alone should help to sell it. But it also should appeal to the general public if properly presented in English. It has elements of American frontier tales, mirages of yellow rocks and some thunderous romantic situations and adventures. And its hero is a picturesque character that catches one's fancy. Oleg Maslenikov is a complete mediocrity. I have not seen his "Hero" but I doubt that he can have produced anything but a very pedestrian version. For good measure the "Hero" might be published together with a new translation of "The Queen of Spades" by Pushkin, of which the usually so careful and brilliant Guerney has made a sad mess in his "Treasury". My young friend could not undertake a translation unless something definite can be worked out before. I would like you to mark that this is a very special offer on my part for ordinarily I do not revise other people's work gratis. If you do not approve of such a striking volume as the "Hero" and the "Queen" combined, perhaps you would prefer to suggest something else?
Here is more news about Pnin. The New Yorker has taken another chapter. I am now in the middle of the next one. I am not sending you anything yet because I want to show you a larger piece.
Sincerely,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: KATHARINE A. WHITE
CC, 5 pp.
700 Stewart Ave.
March 5, 1955
Dear Katharine,
Thanks for the proof1 and the chubby check. It is nice to know that Andy is out of the hospital.
I have cheerfully agreed to accept some thirty minor alterations, and have attended to some other details you wanted cleared up; but a few items I cannot accept, especially: 7 + 8 (explanation), 11 + 11a (transition), 19 (the head! Pnin's head!), 25 (the squirrelized tree), 32 (transition) and 34 (explanation). Such changes would affect the inner core of the piece which is built on a whole series of inner organic transitions; it would be agony even to contemplate replacing some of them at random by mechanical inorganic links when I have taken such pains with the inner linkage and balance. I hope you will agree with me in this as you have agreed in the past.
I am enclosing your Notes, my Notes and the Proofs.
With best wishes.
Sincerely,
PNIN'S DAY, Notes to notes.
1. O.K.
2. O.K.
3. She is very much alive. Pnin is not a widower. The reference further (3a) is to Pnin's father and mother.
4. "Here" refers to Waindell College, to his Assistant Professorship.
5. O.K.
5a. base plugs. This sounds O.K., but I do not know the word. It does mean the two holes into which you insert the two-pronged attachment at the end of a lamp's cord?
6. O.K.
6a. I think "them" seems clear enough since it is immediately followed by "like two old friends". But you may replace "them" by "the pair" or "this pair".
7. I really do not think that you should insert "the Clements' daughter, Isabel" here. No, I cannot accept this. My plan is to bring her presence in gradually, through various impressions and suggestions (and if the reader does not quite understand at first, he certainly will further on) and this explanation spoils the modulated approach completely.
8. O.K. (Bed head is good English. You will find it in the Oxford dictionary. But "bed headboard" is better, I admit.)
8a. Please put back "married daughter" (see 7)
9. O.K.
9a. "Prepared" seems O.K. to me, and means here exactly the same as "made preparations",
10. O.K.
10a. O.K.
10b. The date should be "1940", of course. A slip in my script.
11. I cannot insert anything here. The next paragraph takes him to the classroom automatically. We even learn that he meets on the way somebody who offers him a lift.
12. The English "non", of course (as in "nonstop"). If not clear, change "non" to "o" in "not". If still not clear, cut from "acquiring" to "non", and put instead "sounding positively Italian". Perhaps, this would be simpler and better.
12a. O.K. Or better italicize the "nun" of "after".
13. motuweth frisas. A reference to the sequence "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday" and the weekendish "Friday, Saturday, Sunday" as abbreviated in a memorandum book or calendar. It seems so clear. Let us keep it please, if possible ("on a Montuewed-thursday-Frisatsunday" basis would not have the neatness of my formula).
11a. I am quite sure I would not like any little bridge here. Readers should learn to leap.
14. Superfluous, since it has been translated three lines earlier.
15. I have thought about it, but came to the definite conclusion that nothing could be added. However, an exclamation mark after "Berlin" might settle the point.
16. Low boy file is the right term. See Beckley-Cardy's (Chicago) School Buyer's Guide of Furniture-Supplies-Equipment, Catalog No. 96, School year 1953–1954. Administrator's edition, p. 17, No. D 250, "all-in-one lowboy file", illustr. "Filing case" is acceptable. It is further referred to (same paragraph) as "small steel file".
17. O.K.
18. O.K.: With the help of the janitor he screwed onto the side of the desk a pencil sharpener.
18a. No caps, please.
18b. O.K.: to match
18c. O.K.
19. Stet: head. He had no hair (see Galley Four). Head must remain. The story collapses otherwise.
20. "His compatriot" is redundant then. I would keep "compatriot", eliminate "Komarov" after it, and dispense with the explanation "the only Russian" etc. But do as you please.
21. "antique", or "antiquated", or quite literal "antiquarian"
22. to "slapper-slip" is dialect English for a double slip. But, if not clear, just put "slipped",
23. Yes.
24. "Circular flock" is good ornithological English. It is essential here.
25. It was not a typo. The squirrel goes so fast that it merges with the tree. I must have the tree scrabble. Please, stet.
25a. I have switched around two words, otherwise the "him" is dim.
26. A reference to the Pushkin quoted earlier. I have inserted now the translation.
26a. Please, stet. Pnin translates everything from the Russian. He wants to express the notion "something" but says "something or other"—as many Russians do.
27. O.K.
3a. Pnin would have been a very small Pnin forty years ago! This refers to his parents. I have made it clearer now.
28. You are quite right. I have simplified matters. After "Library": "Wearing rubber gloves.....shelving, Pnin would go to those books and gloat over them: obscure magazines" etc.
29. O.K.
29a. "interested"
30. The reference is to the same Kroneberg translation. Vengerov was the editor of Shakespeare's collected plays in Russian.
31. O.K. Good suggestion.
32. O.K. (Although not really necessary) No, on second thoughts, it is dreadful. Please, eliminate.
32a. "Chapleted" is correct.
33. I have made this a little clearer.
33a. No parenthesis. This was all on the banners (I have seen that film).
33b. Eliminate this "shown", please.
34. This insertion is impossible. Nothing should be added here. I worked for a month on this pas
sage.
35. No date, please!
36. I have rearranged this.
TO: JASON EPSTEIN
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, N.Y.
March 12, 1955
Dear Mr. Epstein,
Here is a short list of works which ought to be retranslated and which might be presented in the following form:
1. A volume which might be titled "Three Duels", and which would contain
Pushkin's THE PISTOL SHOT
Lermontov's PRINCESS MARY
Chehov's THE SINGLE COMBAT.
2. "Three Fantasies"—a trio of fantastic tales—
Pushkin's THE QUEEN OF SPADES
Gogol's THE NOSE
Dostoevski's THE DOUBLE (by far the best thing Dostoevski ever wrote)
My favorite project, however, is Lermontov's THE HERO OF OUR TIME, a novel consisting of five stories (of which PRINCESS MARY is one).
If you are interested in any of these works, I shall explain in more detail what is wrong with the old translations (for instance, with Yarmolinski's "The Pistol Shot or Guerney's "The Queen of Spades").
My protege is none other than my son who will be graduated from Harvard this spring. He is a young Russian scholar and a budding American author in his own right. He has done some very creditable translations for me, and I would undertake to control and revise and work on the lines suggested here.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Naboko.
TO: DOUSSIA ERGAZ1
June 1955
CC, 2 pp.
Ithaca, N.Y.
INSTEAD OF: SHOULD BE:
Forward
p.2 inGray in Gray
Part One
p.2 died died died
p.3 hotel Mirana Hotel Mirana
p.4 que j'avais déniché that I had filched
p.5 fat powdered fat, powdered
p.8 "Annabel" phase an "Annabel" phase the
p.9 Alors she She
p.12 cringe and hide.) cringe and hide!)
p.19 humiliating sordid taciturn humiliating, sordid, taciturn
p.23 wear before I touched her wear, before I touched her,
p.29 lawyers favors, lawyer's favors,
p.38 being presumably the maid) being presumably the maid),
p.42 Ramsdale journal Ramsdale Journal
p.45 and bathe, and bask but a and bathe, and bask; but a
p.53 Her little doves seemed Her little doves seem
p.54 real zest)? no. real zest)? No.
" " Lola, Lolita. Lola, Lolita!
" " Does fate trame quelque chose? Is it Fate scheming?
p.56 to report, save primo: to report, save, primo:
p.60 Dr. Blanche Schwarzman Dr. Blanche Schwarzmann
" " torrentially talking to torrential talk with
p.65 lawyer has acalled lawyer has called
p.66 herself free, recoiled and lay herself free, recoiled, and lay
p.81 I convinced myself that Louise Having convinced myself that Louise
"" left, got into Lo's bed left, I got into Lo's bed
p.89 That is when I knew she was It was then I knew she was
p.103 Humbert. Mais comment? Humbert. But how?
p.109 faisant la coquette. coquettishly.
p.110 je ne sais pas à quoi je ne sais à quoi
p.119 other, and went back to the other, and returned to the
p.121 doublebreatsed doublebreasted
p.122 ticketing illegally parked ticketing the illegally parked
" " Beale car as she slipped and fell .... while hurrying Beale car as she was hurrying
p.128 Mrs. H.H. trajectory Mrs. H.H.'s trajectory
p.129 slipped and plunged slipped on the freshly watered asphalt and plunged
p.137 her wool joursey her wool jersey
" " figures of children with snubbed noses, dun-colored figures of snub-nosed children with dun-colored,
p.183 C'était quelque chose de tout-à-fait spécial, It was something quite special,
p.200 (tale left, white eyelashes (tail left, white eyelashes
p.212 —o Beaudelaire!— —oh Baudelaire!—
" " coach (a husky coach, a husky
p.218 She went on She went on
p.220 kollega comrade
p.222 Alps no more possess and in so many cabanos Alps no longer possess and in so many cabanes
p.223 semi-extant dragons— semi-extant dragons!—
" " withdrew. J'étais dévozé par un désir suprème, comme dit l'autre. withdrew. Beneath the laprobe
Beneath the laprobe
p.257 killed in killed in
" " her mother, eh?) her mother, eh?).
p.276 nonsensedespite nonsense despite
p.278 cockcureness cocksureness
p.286 other alternative that to other alternative than to
p.290 whow as who was
p.324 counrty country
p.342 Saguaro deserts saguaro deserts
p.360 Goddness, Goodness,
p.390 forty at one minute and a hundred the next. forty, one minute, and a hundred, the next.
p.409 and not not after to-morrow, and not after to-morrow,
p.412 emeralkd emerald
p.418 all at one, all at once,
p.423 Godd bless our God bless our
p.439 "Quilty", dis-je, "Quilty", I said,
p.442 disorganized by by a drug disorganized by a drug
" " the cowmen and the sheepmen the cowman and the sheepman
p.447 howl and clutched at his brow howl and hand pressed to his brow
Chere Madame, j'ai relu LOLITA et voici quelques petites fautes, coquilles etc. que j'ai corrigées. Vous voudrez bien noter que j'ai supprime plusieur phrases françaises. Veuillez remettre cette liste a M. Gerodias afin qu'il puisse l'incorporer dans le texte avant la composition.
Bien a vous,
TO: MAURICE GIRODIAS1
CC, 6 pp.
Ithaca, N.Y.
INSTEAD OF: SHOULD BE:
page;line
2;1 Je suis né en 1910 I was born in 1910,
6;14 build built
14;7 analysists analysts
15;23 charmant charmante
20;17 moustach /everywhere/ mustache
21;18 qui sait, who knows,
21;26 le bonhomme the good man
25;5 patient patiently
27;1–2 pack up up pack
30;25 debur debut
33;13 importance important
35;5 cousins cousins,
35;6 wife wife,
35;26 was seemed
35;27 insured insured it
36;5 En route En route
36;14 white-framed white-frame
36;21 Que pouvais-je faire? What could I do?
37;1 bottom end
39;18 I'll "I'll
43;14 sily silky
44;5 no, now,
45;16 et moi and I
50;14 me my
53;19 full skirted full-skirted
53;23 dans de trieux jardins in old gardens
53;22 pyjamas pajamas
54;14 does not deny denies
54;24 tried out tried on
58;5 that this
65;25 numbleness numbleness
73;25 "She's "She'd
80;5 You Your
81;9 full page full-page
86;16 Inacrnadine Incarnadine
90;1 heck the heck
91;4 semblance resemblance
91;22 thirty-year old thirty-year-old
99;9 picnic ground parking area
99;12 when in quest in quest
100;12 intend intended
102;3 decide décide
102;23–24 picnic ground parking area
103;3 sun-dappled privvy a sun-dappled privy
103;10 but chance can chance, however, can
110;15 laquered lacquered
111;13 In "In
111;16 Hotel,) Hotel!)
>
111;22 somewhat set her set her somewhat
116;7 parctically practically
117;8 awoken awoke
123;18 a quiet as quiet
126;10 que c'etait tout comme). that it might be implied).
130;16 pseudo-celtic pseudo-Celtic
130;17 all every
131;2 novelist novelist,
131;3 dog dog,
131;11 carved Indian's carved-Indian
131;18 nursing already already nursing
133;14 Herald— Herald,
134;10 find instead another find, instead, another
134;11 than God thank God
135;23 Bee bea
136;6 Know Your Child Know-Your-Child
136;7 dislike dislike,
138;8 four-hours' four-hour
139;3 headache daily daily headache
140;4 to do to go
140;11 8.30 9.30
140:16 a horseshoe horseshoes
140:19 worn out worn-out
140:25 And afterwards to somebody And perhaps afterwards she would say to somebody
141:18 and seemed taller and taller
141:22 between between
142:3 maedlein mädlein
147:17 srossing crossing
148:19 Lolia Lolita
149:26 way I had way in which I had
151:7 Through Under of girlish
166:2 Venetial Venetian
167:9 pharmaceupist, pharmaceutist,
167:22 tome time
183:15 taken all taken in all
184:5 has had
188:7 fried chicken bones fried-chicken bones
191:10 naivete naiveté
191:12 exhasperating exasperating
191:13 disogranized disorganized
194:15 Holme Holmes
196:20 should had
198:19 Lorraine Lorrain
201:1 en grand, on a grand scale,
201:14 these Magnolia Gardens that Magnolia Garden
202:18 zootsuiter zootsuiters
203:12 Mississippian Mississippi
Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977 Page 15