Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977

by Vladimir Nabokov

  I want to finish first a little slice of my new novel while the going is good, and around Easter I shall re-examine STRONG OPINIONS in its entirety. I am pretty sure that I can accept all your excellent suggestions. I think the writing of the Introduction will be fun.

  What you say about BEND SINISTER warms the rattles of my old heart. I can't remember now but you are including the preface I wrote for the Time Mag. edition, aren't you? (It is an important piece.) As to the "styling" conventions, yes, of course, the American style of punctuation should be used. And I quite agree with you that some recent photo, noble jowls and all, might do better than a jacket Adonis.

  The first copy of A RUSSIAN BEAUTY arrived here today and I am delighted with its looks. Many thanks.

  I take this opportunity to mention a change I would like to make in the title of the second collection of short stories,2 the typescript of which is already in McGraw-Hill's hands. I want to change the order of the stories, moving Perfection to first place and switching Tyrants Destroyed to number n, the former place of Perfection. The title of the entire volume would then be PERFECTION, which I think is more pleasing.

  I would appreciate if you could confirm to me this exchange of titles and positions.

  Cordially yours,

  Vladimir Nabokov

  TO: ANDREW FIELD

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  May 25, 1973

  Dear Andrew,

  I thank you for your letter from good old Cambridge.

  I cannot read your new version "at least quickly" because in order to arrive even at the outline of a conclusion that would be fair to both you and me I must i) repaginate the thing to find my way, 2) consult every moment your voluminous first version and 3) check carefully your response to every objection of mine in the 200 pages of Critical Comments I sent you.

  Since May 10, in between reworking some parts of my STRONG OPINIONS, reading the proof of a new BEND SINISTER edition for McGraw, correcting the Penguin proof of PALE FIRE, translating a Lermontov poem and a Pushkin poem needed in a hurry, and attending to a mass of business correspondence, I have had a moment to start renumbering the pages of your Version I and to notice that you have calmly disregarded some of my objections, or else simply added, with a flippant remark, my true version of an event to your garbled account of it so as to let an idiot reader decide which of us errs!

  Therefore I must follow my initial plan. You can be assured (in case a hijacker takes me to Russia or a dancing butterfly leads me over the brink of a precipice) that your typescripts, my comments to the first version, and our entire correspondence will remain in steelsafe hands. But I really don't see how I can take all those typescripts with me. The one you suggest I mail to myself in Italy would not be enough, nor could I do it anyway, since I am not at all sure we shall like the rooms we have engaged in a hotel on the Adriatic coast. You also underestimate the length of time and risks involved in mailing papers to Italy.

  Now at last my wife is feeling well enough to travel. We shall be leaving in a few days. I am divided between a sense of utter exhaustion, after all the tasks of this spring, and an intolerable impatience to work on my new novel. I can promise you that by the very first week of August I will be studying your new version. We shall also discuss then the mysterious addenda which you say are not yet in the text.

  With best greetings,

  Vladimir Nabokov

  TO: ANDREW FIELD

  TL (XEROX), 2 pp.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  August 8, 1973

  Dear Mr. Field,

  Your ignoble letter of July 9, 1973 arrived only now, upon my return to Montreux from Cortina d'Ampezzo, thus taking a month to reach me. I would attribute to the workings of a deranged mind some of its wild rubbish—such as my dreading the blood of the Tsars in my veins, or that [inexcusable mischaracterization] about a "separation" from my wife, or your comic complaint that I failed to inform you that she is "related to Marc Slonim" (she isn't—and who cares anyway?), or my telling my three-old-year son in Berlin: "Spit on those flowers that look like Hitler faces" (in our set, children were forbidden to spit); but mental derangement is one thing, and blackmail another, and blackmail is the word for your threats to publish my informal utterances on two afternoons of tape-recording, the garbled recollections of strangers, and the various rumors that fell into your unfastidious lap, if I continue to insist on your deleting from your book the errors of fact, the blunders of fancy, and [offensive misinterpretations] which still mar your "revised" version.

  Since I cannot conceive what rational considerations can prompt the unfortunate author of a biographical work [peppered] with mistakes to refuse the help free of charge offered him by the only individual in the world who is able to set straight the incidents, situations and other matters ... botched by that biographer, I shall persevere and send you my corrections, as promised, in the course of this month, and if you refuse to accept them you will take the consequences. I shall not hesitate to sue you for breach of contract, slander, libel, and deliberate attempts to damage my personal reputation.

  I must remind you again that I am in possession of your written declaration of August 25, 1968, made when launching upon your task:

  "The final word as to what would be better deleted will rest in your hands ... Above all I wish to try to make a book that will please you ...

  It is on the strength of that declaration that I put you in touch with relatives and friends of mine and gave you much of my own time. If you violate my trust, you cannot use any information supplied by people who thought they were acting on my request; nor can you use excerpts from my diaries, letters, and other texts received directly from me; and, of course, those famous tapes, no matter how innocent, are also taboo.

  But not all is lost! Both your typescripts, with all my copious notes to them, as well as our entire correspondence, will be ambushed, ready to appear and stop you in your tracks—if I am no longer there to demolish the travesty of my life that you might plan to publish.1

  Vladimir Nabokov

  TO: ANDREW FIELD

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  September 12, 1973

  Dear Mr. Field,

  I have just received your note of September 6 and am airmailing enclosed my 25 typed pages of critical comments and the 178 typed pages of your second version of Nabokov: His Life in Part to which my notes refer.

  Although you did take into account a number of the objections I made in the spring of this year when revising the first version of your NHILIP, I see that you have ignored quite a few errors of fact and tact which I had corrected. I have also found, in this second version, errors I had overlooked in the first. The style and tone of your work are beyond redemption, but if you wish to publish it at all you must accept all the deletions and corrections in the present list. If you prefer putting me in touch with your publisher so as to simplify the matter of final proof reading arrangements, I should be warned well ahead of dates and deadlines as I may have to leave Montreux for some time.

  By the way: I hope you have obtained the permission of all concerned for the publication of Edmund Wilson's New Yorker letter.

  Another thing: It was agreed, you will remember, that the tapes were not to be used without my approval. If you wish to quote from them at all I shall consider this only after you have submitted to me a copy (taped). I am rather puzzled by finding here and there in the chitchat phrases and terms neither my wife nor I ever use. (All the farcical germanic "Akhhs...!!!" with which you introduce the speeches of your Russian characters must go, of course.)

  Vladimir Nabokov

  TO: PROF. STEPHEN JAN PARKER1

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  September 18, 1973

  Dear M
r. Parker,

  Here are some hasty answers to queries in your letter of September 8:

  VN says the exact year when he first read ALICE IN WONDERLAND was 1906. He has never seen a Russian translation of it—either before or after making his.

  Yes, he was commissioned to translate it by the publisher and had not such prior plans. Yes, he was paid about $5. He says he worked at it one summer, and it was easier than COLAS BREUGNON2 which he translated more or less simultaneously.

  No.3

  He says he has not reread his translation for years. He remembers one mistake—using "lohan" instead of "lohan" in the "Soup" poem.

  He remembers his translation as a little stilted in dialogue but excellent in word play and poems.

  He says there are some references to Carroll in STRONG OPINIONS.

  We have seen an advance notice on Field's bibliography in the Kirkus Reviews of which I am enclosing a duplicate. McGraw-Hill say its publication is scheduled for November 15th.

  EUGENE ONEGIN in the new edition: VN has corrected the final proof of two volumes; proof of volume 3 is promised for this month.

  STRONG OPINIONS is coming out in October, and also BEND SINISTER of which we have just received the first advance copy.

  With cordial greetings to you and your wife from VN and me.

  (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)

  TO: DMITRI NABOKOV

  HOLOGRAPH PS TO VÉRA NABOKOV LETTER

  Montreux, Switzerland

  Nov. 25, 1973

  I embrace you as always, dearest! Since 25 September I have written 250 cards (fair copy) of my Harlequins,1 which represents about a hundred printed pages, and there will be about three hundred in all. I work daily, five hours or so, and the writing is going very smoothly and merrily. I sympathize with your dental misadventures—I suffered for almost fifty years, and know.

  I love you!

  P2

  TO: LESLIE J. SCHREYER1

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  September 25, 1973

  Dear Mr. Schreyer,

  My husband asks me to thank you for your letter of August 17. He has some definite convictions as regards the questions raised in it. He regrets that a terrific pressure of work prevents his formulating these convictions. He asks me to convey some of them to you on his behalf.

  He does not believe that the copyright of a letter or a manuscript should be ever assumed to pass from their author to anyone who receives it, or acquires it in any other way; and he does not think that anyone but the author, or his heirs, should be entitled to publish such material.2

  He never sends his autograph to dealers, private collectors, or anyone else. Those autograph hunters pester a man with whom they are not even acquainted in their overwhelming desire to get something for nothing, and help clutter the poor author's letterbox, and obtrude themselves on his consciousness. They send books, photographs, magazine covers etc., that they expect the author not only to inscribe, but also to pack and carry to the post office (incidentally as often as not paying the postage). They are innumerable and come in all possible varieties, from a naive person in Calcutta who would like to be sent half a dozen autographed works by his "favorite author" to the far less naive individual in Grand Rapids or San Francisco who claims one year that his father dying of cancer could only be cheered by an inscribed copy of our "greatest living author"'s latest work, only to claim the following year that his son who is dying of leukemia has but one dream: to receive the latest work of our "greatest living author" inscribed by said author.

  But I do not think this complaint is quite what you have in mind; my husband just wants to share this with you.

  Sincerely yours,

  (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)

  TO: ARYE LEVAVI

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Palace Hotel, 1820 Montreux

  October 9th, 1973

  Dear Mr. Levavi,

  I would like to make a small contribution to Israel's defense against the Arabolshevist aggression. May I beg you to forward the enclosed check. I am leaving the name in blank because I don't know to what organization exactly it should go.

  My wife and I send our cordial greetings to you and Mrs. Levavi.

  Yours ever,

  Vladimir Nabokov

  TO: CARL AND ELLENDEA PROFFER

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  December 3, 1973

  Dear Mr. and Mrs. Proffer,

  Thanks for your letter of November 20. We shall expect, then, to hear from Mr. Hills regarding the reprinting in Russian of MARY and GLORY, and, possibly, THE GIFT as well.

  Please find enclosed a check for $100 which, I hope, will help brighten the Christmas holidays for a couple of dissident families in Russia. We leave it to you to decide what to give, and to whom.

  To you both a good trip and a happy holiday!

  Cordially,

  TO: PROF. STEPHEN JAN PARKER

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  December 12, 1973

  Dear Mr. Parker,

  Thank you for your letter of December 1.

  In the first place: VN asks me to say that of course you may publish the Gstaad exchange.1 The reason why he did not include it in STRONG OPINIONS is that after some hesitation he decided to use only published or ambiguous material in it.

  Field's failing to give you proper credit for your work on the Bibliography is just like Field. Would you believe that he never once thanked VN for saving him from disgrace by catching and correcting the booboos and blunders in his translations of the poem titles (e.g. Semya na kamne was translated by Field "Family on a stone").2 But that is nothing compared with the hideous trouble we are having with the Biography, which teems with factual errors, snide insinuations and blunders that Field refuses to correct after having promised, when starting on the job, to publish nothing that VN would not approve. VN is no longer on speaking terms with Field.

  Moser's article on SOPI is excellent and reads like a thriller.3 VN says that his candidate for the SOPI forger is "Gavrila Petrovich Kamenev (1772–1803), a wonderful poet in his own right" (mentioned in VN's EO). He also says that his new novel LATH4 has traversed the main mountain pass, and that "it will cause hacks to shy and asses to kick".

  I look forward very much to your monograph on Anya when it is completed.

  We both wish a very merry Christmas to you and your wife.

  Sincerely,

  (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)

  TO: EDWARD E. BOOHER

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  December 26, 1973

  Dear Mr. Booher,

  Thanks a lot for your letter of congratulation.1 Never before have I thought of my writing career in terms of prizes or rewards,—or even praise and flattering reviews. But I must truthfully admit that this recognition in the country that I consider my own warms my heart.

  My wife and I shall be looking forward to seeing you again in the spring in New York.

  Sincerely,

  Vladimir Nabokov

  TO: PROF. PAUL KURT ACKERMANN1

  TL (XEROX), 1 p.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  December 26, 1973

  Dear Professor Ackermann,

  My husband asks me to reply to your letter of December 10, as he is too intensely occupied with the novel he is writing to be able to interrupt his work.

  He thanks you for your kind offer to prepublish part of his collection of lectures in the Boston University Journal. It would be, however, premature to discuss this as he has several other projects that must be dealt with before comes the turn of the lecture collection.

  Here are a few considerations on Thomas Mann that I am asked to transmit to you:

&nb
sp; Although my husband's German is very limited he took the trouble to read some of Mann's work quite closely, using a good dictionary, and paying special attention to language and imagery. He failed to discover the special charms you mention. He finds Mann's style to be plodding and garrulous, his images, if carefully translated into English, to prove to be nothing but clichés (a more ambitious sentence often turning out to be an accumulation of several clichés), and his humour remindful of that of Max & Moritz.2 Moreover, he finds Mann's psychology artificial and his characters made to develop so as to fit the author's teleological purpose. O.K.?

  Both my husband and I wish you a happy New Year.

  Sincerely yours,

  (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)

  TO: JOHN UPDIKE

  TLS, 1 p. Harvard University.

  Montreux-Palace Hotel

  1820 Montreux, Switzerland

  January 7, 1974

  Dear Mr. Updike,

  I was delighted to receive your charming note. As you know I love your prose; to get it in this personal form enhances the pleasure it gives me.1

  I wish you a very happy New Year.

  Cordially,

  Vladimir Nabokov