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[NABOAKOV-L] Raymond Queneau and Lolita
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After A.Sklyarenko inquired about Boris Vian, the name of Vian's friend, Raymond Queneau, came up in the List..
There are various references by Nabokov to R.Q's 1947 "Exercices de Style," but here we come to the connection Zazie/Lolita.
From letter 312, written by Edmund Wilson (January 25,1960): "...Have you read Queneau's Zazie dans le Métro? which has been described as France's answer to Lolita. If not, I think you should - though it suffers somwehat from the whimsical vain that has got into French writing:Giraudoux,Aymé, Anouilh,etc."
V.Nabokov's answer (letter 313,April 5, 1960) ..."Yes, I admire greatly ZAZIE DANS LE METRO, it is quite a masterpiece in its "whimsical" genre. ( Isn't all art whimsical, from Shakespeare to Joyce?)"
B.Boyd AY ("Lolita Sparks, 299) "Lolita would have to wait a little longer than Pnin for its first American dust jacket. ..Particularly enthusiastic was novelis Raymond Queneau. whose 1959 novel Zazie dans le Métro would translate Lolita's puckishness into the streets of Paris and a lighter mood."(note 39: Douissia Ergaz to VN, July 224, 1956,VNA)
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There are various references by Nabokov to R.Q's 1947 "Exercices de Style," but here we come to the connection Zazie/Lolita.
From letter 312, written by Edmund Wilson (January 25,1960): "...Have you read Queneau's Zazie dans le Métro? which has been described as France's answer to Lolita. If not, I think you should - though it suffers somwehat from the whimsical vain that has got into French writing:Giraudoux,Aymé, Anouilh,etc."
V.Nabokov's answer (letter 313,April 5, 1960) ..."Yes, I admire greatly ZAZIE DANS LE METRO, it is quite a masterpiece in its "whimsical" genre. ( Isn't all art whimsical, from Shakespeare to Joyce?)"
B.Boyd AY ("Lolita Sparks, 299) "Lolita would have to wait a little longer than Pnin for its first American dust jacket. ..Particularly enthusiastic was novelis Raymond Queneau. whose 1959 novel Zazie dans le Métro would translate Lolita's puckishness into the streets of Paris and a lighter mood."(note 39: Douissia Ergaz to VN, July 224, 1956,VNA)
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/