Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977
Page 25
I believe this should solve the problem of a replacement for me for the spring term. My own situation at this time is such that I am compelled to re-apply for a leave of absence beginning February. I would have hesitated to do it even now were I not convinced that I can be adequately replaced. However, the time is running out. I must give an answer to my two candidates since either of them would have to have time to make their own arrangements if asked to give the courses at Cornell. I would therefore be most grateful if the question could be settled in the course of this week.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
PS. I would like to submit yet a third name for your consideration, that of Charles Norman. He is a professional writer, author of two novels, four volumes of verse, and biographies of Marlowe, Shakespeare, Johnson, Rochester and E.E. Cummings, as well as of a little book on Ezra Pound. He is interested in teaching the novel from a point of view close to my own. He has some Russian background. He has taught, I am told, at the N.Y.U. and the New School (Shakespeare and writing courses) and has recommendations from both. His address is 47 Perry Street, New York 14, NY.
TO: PYKE JOHNSON, JR.1
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
December 16, 1958
Dear Mr. Johnson,
You are bringing out a collection of stories by a dear friend of mine, Sylvia Berkman ("Blackberry Wilderness"). I think very highly of her talent, of the delicate brilliancy of her writing and am keenly interested in the success of her book. I would very much appreciate if you could keep a sympathetic eye upon it. Please let me know when it is coming out. If Miss Berkman had not written about "Nabokov's Dozen" in the Times Book Review, I would have recommended it publicly in one way or another—but now my wings are tied.
May I ask you to have ten copies of the "Dozen"2 shipped to me, charging them against my account? It is the ideal Christmas present. I am frankly distressed by your not advertising it.
I notice that I do not have in my files a copy of the Spanish contract regarding PNIN. I would appreciate if you could send me one.
My wife joins me in wishing you a merry Christmas.
Sincerely,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: David C. Mearns1
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
December 10, 1958
Dear Mr. Mearns,
Tomorrow I shall ship to you by Railway Express a box of manu scripts, some Russian, some English; I am enclosing a list with this letter.
I am particularly happy to deposit in the Library of Congress the manuscripts of my early Russian novels and stories. They represent my early years, those when I was developing as a writer. They have had a tempestuous history: left in the care of a friend in 1940, when I was migrating to this country, they were scattered and partly destroyed by the invading Nazis, who assassinated my friend.2 What could be rescued by his niece lay then for years, pell-mell, in her cellar, next to a coal heap. I eventually regained possession of what was left, at considerable cost and effort.
I have become much more careless of late as regards my recent manuscripts. Pnin may be lying at the bottom of a chest. Lolita, however, was written on index cards, and I am still using the files for some work in progress. These I shall, if I may, ship to you when I have finished using them.
I would also like to deposit with you gradually some family correspondence and papers; correspondence exchanged with publishers some fifteen years ago; correspondence exchanged with fellow writers etc.—if I may do so gradually, as I can find time to unpack, sort them out and get them ready for shipping.3
I would like to retain the copyright in all the material I am sending you now or may send in the future. I think that fifty years of restricted access would make me happier than a shorter period; during this period the collection would be made available only by my permission or that of my heirs.
I am notifying today the Exchange and Gift Division of the Library that my box of manuscripts is on its way by Railway Express.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: VICTOR REYNOLDS
CC, 1 p.
Ithaca, N.Y.
January 8, 1958 [1959]
Dear Mr. Reynolds,
I am not sure that I made it quite clear that the right to publish a trade edition of the translation and a limited number of notes is of the utmost importance to me. I may have been mistaken but it was my impression that this was understood between us from the start of our discussions. As you may remember, I found it difficult to agree that there should be no royalties from your first printing of 975 copies, but no objections had ever been raised by you against my bringing out a trade edition one year after publication of the entire text by you.
As you know, it would please me very much to have the book (the complete translation and commentaries) published by the Cornell Press. To make things easier for you I agreed (very much against my better judgment since in my opinion it detracts from the value of the book) to take out the two appendixes. But I would be extremely sorry if you insisted on sharing in the trade edition for this would make it impossible for me to sign an agreement with the Press.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: George Weidenfeld1
CC, 2 pp.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY., USA.
January 12, 1958 [1959]
Dear Mr. Weidenfeld,
Many thanks for your kind letter and the interesting clippings. I note gratefully that you have made the necessary arrangements with a clippings agency; and it is good to learn that you are in touch with my cousin Peter.2
I am looking forward very much to the "full account" of the "Battle for LOLITA".
As I have already told you, your idea of gradually bringing out my other works is most appealing. I would suggest that you begin with BEND SINISTER which was published by Henry Holt here in 1947. It is out of print now and if you cannot obtain a copy I shall gladly send you one. Next, THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT. Then a volume of short stories (corresponding more or less to NABOKOV'S DOZEN, Doubleday 1958, with some omissions and additions) and SPEAK, MEMORY (Gollancz, 1951; corresponding to CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE, Harper, 1951). After that I would have for you an English translation of my three best Russian novels: LUZHIN'S DEFENCE (the story of a demented chess player), THE GIFT (a novel of love and literature) and INVITATION TO A BEHEADING (a grim fantasy which at this moment is being translated into English by my son Dmitri Nabokov for Putnam). There are other novels besides as well as scholarly works such as a huge study of Pushkin's EUGENE ONEGIN (complete translation and copious commentaries), but of this later. This eliminates for the time being the troublesome problem of translation.
Now, the following little matter may seem to you trivial but it bothers me. I suspect the phrase "Mr. Nabokov is a second Pasternak" is a reporter's distortion. It might be correct to say, perhaps, as some have been doing that Pasternak is the best Soviet poet, and that Nabokov is the best Russian prose writer but there the parallel ends; so just to prevent any well-meaning publicity from taking the wrong turn, I would like to voice my objection to DOCTOR ZHIVAGO—which may brim with human interest but is wretched art and platitudinous thought. Its political aspects do not interest me; I can only be concerned with the artistic character of this or that novel. From this point of view ZHIVAGO is a sorry thing, clumsy, melodramatic, with stock situations and trite characters. Here and there a landscape or metaphor recalls Pasternak the gifted poet but that is not sufficient to save the novel from the provincial banality, so typical of Soviet literature during the past forty years. The novel's historical background is muddled and frequently quite false to fact (thus his ignoring the liberal revolution and its Western-European ideals in the sequence of events leading to the Bolshevik coup-d'etat is quite in keeping with the Communist party line)—but again I am not concerned with any but the ar
tistic aspects of the book.
In mid-February my leave of absence from Cornell will start its pleasant cycle. I would like to try and plan my movements so as to be in New York when you are there. Do let me know your schedule when it is established. I am very eager to meet you.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
PS. Perhaps it is too early to discuss this matter but before you decide on the binding and jacket of LOLITA may I suggest that you take a look at the pictures on jacket and cover of the Dutch edition. They are perfectly and enchantingly right. On the other hand, the Swedish edition has a horrible young whore instead of my nymphet. i. Chairman of Weidenfeld it Nicolson.
TO: JASON EPSTEIN
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
January 18, 1959
Dear Jason,
Vladimir has withdrawn his Pushkin MS from the Cornell Press. Ever since LOLITA's financial success they have been trying in various ways to extract money from him. It had been clearly established from the beginning of the negotiations that he was to keep the right to publish a trade edition of the main text and some notes. When time came to sign the agreement, the Press suddenly claimed those rights for itself. Vladimir got furious and took back the MS.
As a matter of principle he would have nothing against partly subsidising the edition. Can you think of some way of publishing the big book and then partly financing it from the proceeds from the little book? The Cornell Press (or rather its director) likes to produce "beautiful" books. Therefore the budget was to run higher than $12,000. This, too, annoyed Vladimir when they tried to make him pay for the luxury. What he would like is publish the complete text, no matter how modestly presented, even as a paperback, just so that it would be in print. Could you be kind enough to explore these possibilities? The Bollinger Foundation seems hopeless unless one has a formidable "pull" (or is a mystic or a crackpot), but what about Columbia? Or Yale? Indiana Univ. Press might do it, but they would want both the big and the trade edition. Do think of it and let us know.
Vladimir has very nearly finished the commentaries to his translation of the Igor epic and has collected a considerable number of Russian poems done by him into English, a few with notes. This collection will comprise three short dramas by Pushkin and poems from Lomonosov (XVIII century), through Zhukovski, Batyushkov, Tyutchev, Pushkin, Lermontov, Fet, to Blok.1
Love from us both to you and Barbara.
TO: WALTER J. MINTON
CC, 1 p.
Goldwin Smith Hall
Ithaca, NY.
January 20, 1958 [1959]
Dear Walter,
Thank you for your two letters. Yes, you are right, the agreement about INVITATION should better be signed between you and me, and I should be the one to hire Dmitri.1 I accept your terms. I would like to keep the agreement separate from the LOLITA affairs, in other words I would like to receive the advance on signature of the contract.
Something which has been bothering me. The title I originally suggested for PRIGLASHENIE NA KAZN' (INVITATION TO A BEHEADING) can be improved upon by the shorter: WELCOME TO THE BLOCK with its splendidly gruesome double entendre. The very good French translation which Gallimard has purchased is entitled INVITATION AU SUPPLICE.
I have been granted one year's leave of absence from Cornell. As you know the university's attitude toward the LOLITA matter has been above reproach. Yesterday I delivered my two last lectures to which some glamour was added by the fact that a reporter-photographer from the Swedish Vecko journalen (Bonnier's publications) kept snapping pictures throughout the proceedings.
I was glad to see that your beautiful ad is paying off in reorders.
The Bureau Clairouin is working on the Steimatzky agreement.2 I was at first against it but gave in. Thanks for explaining about agent fees. I got a long letter from Girodias summarizing the past with a bizarre slant and offering me the leaf of a thorny palm.
I don't mind signing the Warren3 agreement but let us first clear it with the Harris-Kubrick people—just in case.
Cordially,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: MAURICE GIRODIAS
CC, 1 p.
Ithaca, N.Y.
January 26, 1959
Dear Mr. Girodias,
I have received your letter of January 14th. I am sorry that lack of time prevents my commenting upon it in detail. On several occasions in my letters to you and to Mme Ergaz I have already listed most of my reasons. I never resented my connection with your firm. What a ridiculous thing to say.
The American Customs were admitting the book anyway. No publisher has a right to share motion picture profits with the author. My consent to give you part of the proceeds from some of the foreign rights was a concession on my part, not a recognition of a "natural claim". And so on.
I wrote LOLITA.
Yours truly,
Vladimir Naboko.
TO: MAX REINHARDT
CC, 1 p.
Ithaca, N.Y.
January 26, 1959
Dear Mr. Reinhardt,
I am very much moved by Mr. Graham Greene's attitude toward my book. Will you please convey to him my deepest gratitude.
Under no circumstances whatsoever would I consent to a bowdlerization of LOLITA.1 In the Putnam-Olympia-Weidenfeld agreement there is a special clause to the effect that the London edition of LOLITA must be an exact replica of the Putnam edition (including my afterpiece). So far the question of abridgement has not arisen.
I wish to thank you for your continued interest in my book. As you know, I greatly appreciated your offer but the final decision was not in my hands.
With best wishes,
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
FROM: GEORGE WEIDENFELD
TLS, 2 pp.
28th January, 1959.
Dear Mr. Nabokov,
I have just returned from a trip to Holland and France and hasten to write to you and give you the latest news.
The battle for LOLITA goes on and I hope that both the press cuttings and also your cousin will have kept you up to date with developments. I look forward to seeing Mr. de Peterson again next week and discussing the strategy of publication with him.
The Times letter was obviously very helpful, although today's rejoinder by Douglas Woodruff, the editor of the Catholic paper The Tablet, is the first seriously argued thrust of counter attack.
The salient problem is one of timing. As you know the Obscene Publications Bill has now had its formal second reading and will reach the crucial committee stage at the end of February and should we are reliably informed become law in May or June. Our legal advis ers and indeed our literary friends are strongly of the opinion that we should not publish before this new bill has become effective. The reason for this is that under the present law the literary quality of the book in question is held to be entirely irrelevant and one is not allowed to call any witnesses to testify to the book's merits. Under the new bill not only will literary merit be taken into account in deciding the fate of the book but the defence will be able to call witnesses to testify to the book's merits. I need not explain to you how enormously the chances of victory, in the event of prosecution would be increased if we could produce in court as witnesses the formidable array of literary personalities who signed the letter to The Times.1
I cabled you on Monday last as I did not want you to gain a false impression from the report of Nigel Nicolson's2 meeting at Bournemouth on Saturday. He was reported in The Times as saying that we were not considering publication of LOLITA. It is almost impossible to know exactly what was said in the heat of an angry political meeting and he may well have inadvertently used this phrase. This of course does not represent our policy and we are going ahead with our plans to bring out the book as soon as possible. However the position changes from day to day and all I can do at the moment is to keep you in touch with events.
We are most anxious to lose no time in re—pub
lishing your past works. The scheme you suggest regarding the chronology of this reissue seems to me admirable. I would, however, like to propose that we start off with THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT, followed by the short stories and your Russian novels. BEND SINISTER could be sandwiched in between the first and second Russian novels. If we could agree on this programme, we would like to publish THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT at the earliest opportunity—perhaps in June or July regardless of the publication date of LOLITA. My whole point is to impress on critics, the book trade and the public alike that we are bent on publishing your whole opus, which we wish to have in print as soon as possible. I am most anxious to have your permission to go ahead and I would appreciate an intimation from you as to whom we should approach regarding terms. If you could give me your approval in principle, then we could discuss outstanding details when we meet. At the moment I plan to leave London on February 20th, but it is possible that my departure may be delayed for a few days. I wonder therefore if there is any chance of our meeting in New York during the following weekend on Saturday 28th or Sunday 1st March. We could perhaps have dinner and spend the evening together. Needless to say I look forward immensely to the pleasure of meeting you.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
George Weidenfeld
TO: VAUN GLLLMOR