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New TOoL review
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[Dmitri Nabokov sends the following comment to a review originally
spotted by Sandy Klein. -- SES]
Dear Jansy,
Thanks for sending this masterpiece. As you know, I generally follow my
father's example of ignoring reviews, but I subliminally supposed a
piece by someone named Razumnaya ("sensible" in Russian) might merit an
exception. However, my supposition started wavering at the the epithet
"triumphant", and succumbed at the deeply offensive "parricidal relish".
Any "sensible" reader would have long ago perceived� the nature of my
relationship with my father, and any well informed critic would have
been aware that the introduction in the Everyman Edition of Lolita
edition Mme. Razumnaya� seems to have consulted, was profoundly flawed:
neither the publisher nor Martin Amis realized that the "foreword", by
"John Ray, Jr. Ph.D." with which it began was a satirical fabrication by
Nabokov. Hence Nabokov's caricature was removed and replaced by an
earnest "preface" poor, unobservant Amis was asked to provide. It goes
without saying that, when I noticed this egregious blooper, I demanded
that Nabokov's preface be immediately reinstated, and the faulty copies
be� withdrawn. The publisher honorably complied. So, Mme, Razumnaya --
or Bezumnaya (which see) -- is quoting not from Amis's "clear-sighted
synopsis" but from non-Nabokovian limbo.
DN
On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 3:30 PM, Jansy <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:jansy@aetern.us" target=_blank>jansy@aetern.us> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt
0pt 0pt 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class=gmail_quote>
Sandy Klein sends the link to��<A
href="http://www.theworld.org/2010/04/09/world-books-review-the-original-of-laura/"
target=_blank>http://www.theworld.org/2010/04/09/world-books-review-the-original-of-laura/
- World Books Review: �The Original of Laura�, April 9, 2010,�reviewed
by Anna Razumnaya. It begins quoting Vladimir Nabokov, �Softest of
Tongues� (1941)�
"Thus life has been an endless line of land
receding endlessly� And so that�s that,
you say under your breath, and wave your hand,
and then your handkerchief, and then your hat."
�
Razumnaya writes that�"The Original of Laura�..."is Vladimir Nabokov�s
latest previously unpublished prose work to descend upon the market. One
is wary of saying �last� rather than �latest,� as Nabokov�s
�Butterflies,� ...was similarly trumped up to be �the last important
unpublished fiction by Nabokov.� Dmitri Nabokov, the writer�s son,
translated the Russian texts for Nabokov�s �Butterflies.�� He now
figures as the editor of his father�s unfinished and deeply incomplete
final novel...Dmitri Nabokov�s introduction...in a tone that one has to
understand, for lack of other plausible interpretation, as
triumphant...His mannered description of Nabokov�s death��My mother and
I sat near him as, choking on the food I was urging him to consume, he
succumbed, in three convulsive gasps, to congestive
bronchitis,��astonishes not only with its affectation but also
with the parricidal relish of the moment...Dmitri Nabokov�s judgment to
preserve and publish �The Original of Laura� as a popular edition lends
itself but to trivial gains....The unfinished novel, whose prose,
prurient and unpruned, makes the sum of Nabokov�s output less, not more,
impressive. Laura is no �maddening masterpiece� ...�Laura,� an
unfinished work of indisputable scholarly interest, is ill-suited for
being published as a lavish gift edition. Likewise, it seems strange of
its publisher to proffer it coyly as a kind of literary a game for
grown-ups, since �Laura� is a book about dying�not in the manner of
Lolita, as in Martin Amis�s clear-sighted synopsis:�"�once the book
begins, Humbert�s childhood love Annabel dies, at thirteen (typhus), and
his first wife Valeria dies (also in childbirth), and his second wife
Charlotte dies (�a bad accident��though of course this death is
structural), and Charlotte�s friend Jean Farlow dies at thirty-three
(cancer), and Lolita�s young seducer Charlie Holmes dies (Korea), and
her old seducer Quilty dies (murder: another structural exit). And then
Humbert dies (coronary thrombosis). And then Lolita dies. And her
daughter dies..."The striking feature of Dmitri Nabokov�s edition of
�Laura� is the wresting of authorial control, by a son, from a father
whose deep obsession with control was manifest throughout his literary
career, including this final unfinished novel..."
�
JM: Considering the present discussion on "Nabokov and Cruelty" I must
ask: who has been cruel to whom?�Must reviewers�follow "neosincerity" (
I loved the falsehood in this�designation by Art Spiegelman -�but I
still don't know what it means), or distribute unwanted�truths?�
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/
spotted by Sandy Klein. -- SES]
Dear Jansy,
Thanks for sending this masterpiece. As you know, I generally follow my
father's example of ignoring reviews, but I subliminally supposed a
piece by someone named Razumnaya ("sensible" in Russian) might merit an
exception. However, my supposition started wavering at the the epithet
"triumphant", and succumbed at the deeply offensive "parricidal relish".
Any "sensible" reader would have long ago perceived� the nature of my
relationship with my father, and any well informed critic would have
been aware that the introduction in the Everyman Edition of Lolita
edition Mme. Razumnaya� seems to have consulted, was profoundly flawed:
neither the publisher nor Martin Amis realized that the "foreword", by
"John Ray, Jr. Ph.D." with which it began was a satirical fabrication by
Nabokov. Hence Nabokov's caricature was removed and replaced by an
earnest "preface" poor, unobservant Amis was asked to provide. It goes
without saying that, when I noticed this egregious blooper, I demanded
that Nabokov's preface be immediately reinstated, and the faulty copies
be� withdrawn. The publisher honorably complied. So, Mme, Razumnaya --
or Bezumnaya (which see) -- is quoting not from Amis's "clear-sighted
synopsis" but from non-Nabokovian limbo.
DN
On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 3:30 PM, Jansy <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:jansy@aetern.us" target=_blank>jansy@aetern.us> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt
0pt 0pt 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class=gmail_quote>
Sandy Klein sends the link to��<A
href="http://www.theworld.org/2010/04/09/world-books-review-the-original-of-laura/"
target=_blank>http://www.theworld.org/2010/04/09/world-books-review-the-original-of-laura/
- World Books Review: �The Original of Laura�, April 9, 2010,�reviewed
by Anna Razumnaya. It begins quoting Vladimir Nabokov, �Softest of
Tongues� (1941)�
"Thus life has been an endless line of land
receding endlessly� And so that�s that,
you say under your breath, and wave your hand,
and then your handkerchief, and then your hat."
�
Razumnaya writes that�"The Original of Laura�..."is Vladimir Nabokov�s
latest previously unpublished prose work to descend upon the market. One
is wary of saying �last� rather than �latest,� as Nabokov�s
�Butterflies,� ...was similarly trumped up to be �the last important
unpublished fiction by Nabokov.� Dmitri Nabokov, the writer�s son,
translated the Russian texts for Nabokov�s �Butterflies.�� He now
figures as the editor of his father�s unfinished and deeply incomplete
final novel...Dmitri Nabokov�s introduction...in a tone that one has to
understand, for lack of other plausible interpretation, as
triumphant...His mannered description of Nabokov�s death��My mother and
I sat near him as, choking on the food I was urging him to consume, he
succumbed, in three convulsive gasps, to congestive
bronchitis,��astonishes not only with its affectation but also
with the parricidal relish of the moment...Dmitri Nabokov�s judgment to
preserve and publish �The Original of Laura� as a popular edition lends
itself but to trivial gains....The unfinished novel, whose prose,
prurient and unpruned, makes the sum of Nabokov�s output less, not more,
impressive. Laura is no �maddening masterpiece� ...�Laura,� an
unfinished work of indisputable scholarly interest, is ill-suited for
being published as a lavish gift edition. Likewise, it seems strange of
its publisher to proffer it coyly as a kind of literary a game for
grown-ups, since �Laura� is a book about dying�not in the manner of
Lolita, as in Martin Amis�s clear-sighted synopsis:�"�once the book
begins, Humbert�s childhood love Annabel dies, at thirteen (typhus), and
his first wife Valeria dies (also in childbirth), and his second wife
Charlotte dies (�a bad accident��though of course this death is
structural), and Charlotte�s friend Jean Farlow dies at thirty-three
(cancer), and Lolita�s young seducer Charlie Holmes dies (Korea), and
her old seducer Quilty dies (murder: another structural exit). And then
Humbert dies (coronary thrombosis). And then Lolita dies. And her
daughter dies..."The striking feature of Dmitri Nabokov�s edition of
�Laura� is the wresting of authorial control, by a son, from a father
whose deep obsession with control was manifest throughout his literary
career, including this final unfinished novel..."
�
JM: Considering the present discussion on "Nabokov and Cruelty" I must
ask: who has been cruel to whom?�Must reviewers�follow "neosincerity" (
I loved the falsehood in this�designation by Art Spiegelman -�but I
still don't know what it means), or distribute unwanted�truths?�
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/