Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977
Page 24
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: PROF. HARRY LEVIN
CC, 1 p.
Ithaca, N.Y.
April 28, 1958
Dear Harry,
It was most kind of you to send me THE POWER OF BLACKNESS.1 I delayed this acknowledgement because I wanted to read the book before thanking you for it, but I am invaded by galleys of LOLITA in various languages, including English, and have only had time to glance through it, so far.
I enjoyed your treatment of Poe. Not only did he not visualize the death's-head moth, but he was also under the completely erroneous impression that it occurs in America. In Kafka's case the reader sees the brown domed beetle quite clearly.
We often think of our pleasant Cambridge visits and wonder when we shall see you all again. In the meantime Vera joins me in sending all three of your our very best wishes.
Sincerely,
FROM: WALTER J. MINTON
TELEGRAM
3:46 p.m., 18 August 1958
EVERYBODY TALKING OF LOLITA ON PUBLICATION DAY YESTERDAYS REVIEWS MAGNIFICENT AND NEW YORK TIMES BLAST THIS MORNING1 PROVIDED NECESSARY FUEL TO FLAME 300 REORDERS THIS MORNING AND BOOK STORES REPORT EXCELLENT DEMAND CONGRATULATIONS ON PUBLICATION DAY
WALTER J MINTON
TO: WALTER J. MINTON
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
August 29, 1958
Dear Walter,
I am writing you separately about INVITATION TO A BEHEADING. Two things the translator must be: 1) male, 2) American-born or English. He must also have a sound and scholarly knowledge of Russian. I do not know anyone who would meet these requirements except my son—but he is unfortunately much too busy and has already had to refuse to translate a book for Doubleday.
You might be able to find an intelligent Russian-speaking English-writing man in New York. Or perhaps England is a better place to look for such a translator? In any case, I would have to control his work throughout and, moreover, would want to see a sample of it before you engage him. For reasons which would be tedious to explain in a letter I would certainly not want Guerney. For different reasons I would not want Magarshack whose work is very poor.
Elek speaks in his letter of having "reliable" Russian translators. Could he be of some help? (But the translator must not be a Russian-born lady).
Regards.
Sincerely,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: ELENA SIKORSKI
ALS, 1 p. Elena Sikorski.
Ithaca, N. Y.
6 Sept. 1958
My dear Elenochka,
I am sending you the Prague money for November.
Thanks for the heart-rending snapshot.1 Those lindens, of course, were not there before, and everything is grayer than the artwork of memory, but it is all very detailed and recognizable.
Lolita is having an unbelievable success—but all this ought to have happened thirty years ago. I don't think I shall need to teach any more, yet I am sorry to abandon my idyllic Cornell. I have not yet made any decisions, but now there will be nothing to prevent us from visiting Europe in American fashion. In the meantime I am preparing E.O. for publication and finishing my Engl, translation of The Song of Igor's Campaign.
Our heartfelt thoughts2 are with you and Zhikochka, be cheerful, be well, I embrace you.
V.3
TO: VICTOR REYNOLDS1
CC, 1 p.
Ithaca, N.Y.
September 7, 1958
Dear Mr. Reynolds,
I cannot conceal my disappointment at not getting any royalty from your edition of my "Onegin". However, I do understand your reluctance to pay royalties since you expect to sell only 975 copies over a period of several years. I have a hunch that it will sell much better than that. Let us say, then, that I shall get no royalties for your first edition of 975 copies.
On the other hand, the more I ponder the less I can see how a trade edition (less than 200 pages, comprising only the translation itself and a few footnotes) can interfere with the big book which I am offering you, and which is especially and uniquely important because of the exhaustive commentaries that will not appear in the trade edition.
Granted that, as you say, your edition would be purchased by libraries and some private collectors, I suggest that none of these would replace it by the kind of utilitarian trade edition mentioned above.
I would like you therefore to meet me halfway in this matter by allowing me to bring out the aforesaid trade edition (i.e., about one tenth of the whole book) in January 1961—although I actually see no reason why it should not appear simultaneously with the big opus.
I would very much appreciate if you could let me know what you think of this in the course of this week.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: WALTER J. MINTON
CC, 1 p.
Ithaca, N.Y.
September 8, 1958
Dear Walter,
I spent two delightful days with Paul O'Neil 1who pumped me very delicately with great skill and acumen.
I am not very happy about the Goulden offer.2 It does not strike me as very promising in view of his having changed his terms between the letter he wrote me and the conversation he had with you: in his letter, of which I sent you a copy, he offers definitely: 121/2% on first 3,000 copies; 15% on 3,000 to 10,000; 171/2% on 10,000 to 15,000; 20% thereafter. You seem to have difficulties in reaching the 20% mark—though it is true that the initial royalty he offers you is higher. If you think you could postpone clinching this business with him until you see him in London—so much the better. But if you think no time should be lost, I shall be willing to sign now.
I am sending you the copy of an offer from Lewis Allen (Producers Theatre, Inc.). I am telling him that you are handling the movie rights. His offer does not appeal to me at all. For one thing, my supreme, and in fact only, interest in these motion picture contracts is money. I don't give a damn for what they call "art". Moreover, I would veto the use of a real child. Let them find a dwarfess. I am also sending you a copy of a new letter from Chambrun 3 who says he has "a lead". But I know you do not want to deal with him.
I don't know what to think of the Canadian ban, though I am sure Prince Philip has managed to get a copy. By the way I would like to have one or two copies of this Canadian edition.
I don't know if I mentioned that the N.Y.Times mag. asked me for an essay on pornography and that I refused.
Another matter begins to bother me. I am a poor man and if all the LOLITA revenues are lumped together into one income-tax year, there will be very little left for me. I am told that some precautions can be taken when contracts are written. Should I get in touch with a lawyer? Could you suggest one—who would not be too expensive? I have been referred to a man called Max Chopnik, 9 East 40 Street—have you ever heard of him?
Finally, would you be so very kind and have the Russian copy of INVITATION TO A BEHEADING which I mailed you, sent to my son?
Very cordially,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: VICTOR C. THALLER1
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
September 17, 1958
Dear Mr. Thaller,
When you are ready to sign the motion picture agreement with Kubrick-Harris,2 could you try and have them pay for the rights, say, 50% in cash and 50% in so many government bonds or other safe stock? You would then undertake to pay me $12.500 a year plus so many shares or bonds. I wonder if such an agreement is feasible. I am not interested in the dividends accruing while you hold the shares. I would merely like to be protected against inflation or devaluation.
I may seem overcautious to you—but I am a European who went through two disastrous inflations, and I would feel very much easier if the matter could be worked out the way I suggest. I mentioned it to Mr. Minton, and he said it could not be done, but I am not sure that I made myself clear.
Sincerely yours,
; Vladimir Nabokov
TO: PROF. JEAN-JACQUES DEMOREST1
CC, 2 pp.
Ithaca, N.Y.
September 30, 1958
Dear Professor Demorest,
As you know, the prerequisite for enrollment in my course 315–316 is "qualification in Russian". By "qualification" I understand the ability to read and write, a knowledge of grammar and as much of a vocabulary as, say, is needed for the understanding, with my assist ance, of Pushkin's text. This fall three students, all of them bright talented boys whom it would have been a pleasure to teach, wished to enroll in Russian Literature 315. All three had taken Russian 101–102 in the University's Modern Languages Department. That course, I am told, is designed to give "proficiency in Russian". I examined the three students asking them to 1. translate a simple Russian poem of 12 lines into English; 2. to perform a few simple exercises in declension and conjugation; and 3. to replace the blanks in a few sentences as given in the seventeenth lesson of a "Beginner's Manual" ("Conversational Russian"). After a brief spell of stunned contemplation, all three students declared that the task was utterly hopeless, that they did not understand the words and that they were absolutely unprepared for that type of work.
I should have found this situation inexplicable had I not been aware of the farce taking place year after year in the Russian Dept, at Morrill Hall. At the root of the evil there is one simple fact: the head of the Russian Language Dept., Prof. G. Fairbanks,2 does not have any Russian. He cannot speak it, he cannot write it. I believe he can teach the linguistics of any language, including Armenian, Korean, Hungarian and what not,—but that is all he can do. So that our students are taught not the Russian language itself but the method of teaching others to teach that method.
On the other hand, since Dr. Fairbanks knows no Russian, he has no means to ascertain whether or not the instructors he appoints have sufficient Russian for the task assigned to them. The result is that the young instructors (mostly graduate students appointed by him) are likewise incapable of reading and writing Russian.
When I joined the Cornell faculty in 1948, three Russian ladies with excellent knowledge of the language and teaching were in charge of the Russian language courses. Two of them have long left, to be replaced by ludicrously incompetent young instructors whose major field frequently lies outside the Russian Language Dept. The only courses in Russian language that still have value are those given by Mrs. Jaryc. It is plain that one excellent instructor cannot outbalance the disastrous nonsense going on in the other classes.
The situation at the Russian Language Dept, has been steadily deteriorating over a number of years and now it has really reached a point at which continued silence on my part would be disloyal to the University.
Moreover, at a time when the country desperately needs Russian-language experts, it is distressing to think what havoc Mr. Fairbank's MA's and PhD's are bringing into the work of the State Department and of other agencies which require not phonemes, but able translators, and who engage Cornell alumni on the false assumption that a Cornell diploma is still a guarantee of scholarship.
Linguistics may be all right. But I want to repeat again that it is madness to have a person not knowing a given language direct the teaching of that language.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: Dwight Macdonald1
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
October 3, 1958
Dear Mr. Macdonald,
This is just a short note between lecture and library to thank you for your delightful and stimulating letter.
My wife and I remember with pleasure your brief—too brief—visit.
Had not Zhivago and I been on the same ladder2 (I feel his grip on my ankles), I would have been glad to demolish that trashy, melodramatic, false and inept book, which neither landscaping nor politics can save from my waste paper basket.
I hope to visit the New Yorker offices on the 20th or the 27th of October and hope to see you there. Thanks for your nice invitation.
Sincerely,
Vladimir Nabokov
It was good of you to put in a kind word for Lolita in Hollywood. Hedda Hopper is waging a spirited anti -Lolita campaign—on moral grounds, I understand.
TO: ANITA LOOS1
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
October 3, 1958
Dear Miss Loos,
My husband asks me to tell you that he was glad to autograph Lolita for you.
What comes now is a little embarrassing: he has been autographing Lolita only for personal friends and the very few writers whose work he admires. He has refused his autograph to so many of his own students and to so many of his acquaintances that it would be impossible for him to make an exception in the case of young MacArthur.2 He hopes you will excuse him, especially as you must have often been in the same situation.
Sincerely yours,
(Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)
Both books are being mailed to you today.
TO: GRAHAM GREENE AND MAX REINHARDT
TELEGRAM
Ithaca, N.Y.
LT Graham Greene and Max Reinhardt
Bodleian Westcent London
Delighted1
Vladimir Nabokov
October 11, 1958
TO: CORNELL DAILY SUN
PRINTED LETTER
Ithaca, NY.
To the Editor:
I wish to correct two misstatements in Mr. Metcalfs article "Learning the Russian Language" (The SUN, Oct. 15):
The "one genuine Russian literature course" (Russian 317) is not offered this term2 because of "lack of interest" but because of lack of grammar. The three bright and intelligent candidates who enrolled in this course after a year of Morrill Hall could not pass a simple test I gave them—proving that they had not been taught the most elementary rules of Russian.
I am not on the staff of the language and linguistics department as implied by the last paragraph of Mr. Metcalf's article. My courses in Russian literature (315–16 and 317–18) are given under the jurisdiction of the Department of Romance Literature and my course in Russian literature (325–326) under that of the Division of Literature. In other words I am strictly a Goldwin Smith man.3
—Prof. Vladimir Nabokov
1. Published 20 October 1958.
TO: WALTER J. MINTON
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
December 2, 1958
Dear Walter,
Vera and I had a wonderful time with you and your charming wife and the Thallers. The TV trialogue, in a colorful setting with books, chrysenthemums and coffee cups with brandy, was a great success.
The more I think about Miss Chase's Lolita, the more I dislike the coincidence. I think the matter is far graver than poor Warren's faux pas. The point is that the name Lolita is constantly used by the people writing about similar situations and little girls, and if the Chase play is a success it will create an undesirable confusion. Moreover, complications would be bound to arise when or if my Lolita is staged. This thing worries me. Have you seen her vulgar agent again?
I wrote to the out-of-season Diana,1 the trespassing Mexican huntress as you suggested, and got a shock in return. They wrote back in righteous wrath saying that they wanted to buy the Spanish-language rights, that they had sent an offer via Putnams on October 16th, and were told by your office to get in touch with Olympia! All rights except the English are mine, and mine only. Neither Olympia nor Girodias has any say in the matter. I am sure there is some mis take and would like you to make a note that all inquiries about translations should go to me.
Incidentally, I am about to sell Lolita to Japan and to Israel, which practically spans the globe.
Look up a very nice article by Richard Schickel in the November Progressive.2
Yours cordially,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: FRANCIS E. MIN
EKA1
CC, 2 pp.
Ithaca, N.Y.
December 7, 1958
Dear Dean Mineka,
I have been in touch with several friends at different universities and colleges, and the two names I submitted to you are those of two teachers who seem to me to be best suited to substitute for me in the coming term.
Miss Helen Muchnic of Smith is a professor of comparative literature and of Russian literature. She has been at Smith for a number of years, has written at least one book that received excellent notices. Miss Muchnic, as I mentioned to you, could come to Cornell only for the second half of the week and would have to commute between Northampton and Ithaca. I realize that it might be difficult to have my two courses rescheduled for the last three days of the week, but you thought you might be able to arrange it.
Mr. H. Gold, the other prospect, is even better qualified to continue my courses, since he is not only a teacher but also an author. I do not know him personally but he is well recommended by reliable people. He was first mentioned to me by a friend, Miss Aileen Ward, who taught for several years at Wellesley and Vassar and has now temporarily given up teaching to finish a book of her own (on a grant). Mr. Gold seems to be quite at home in both fields (European and Russian literatures) in which my courses belong. He has other excellent recommendations. He would be able, moreover, to settle down in Ithaca for the semester and thus continue both courses at their regularly scheduled hours.2