Subject
HELP. Two Verse Executions: Their Dates and Fates
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Date
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> Dear friends,
>
> I am trying to find as much information as possible on a number of poems
by
> VN, especially their dates (composition, publication, etc.).
Unfortunately,
> I don't have many important sources to hand (I've got Field's Bibliography
> [1973], Juliar's Dscrptv. Bibliography and the "Alphabetic & Chronological
> Lists of N's Poetry" by D. Barton Johnson and Wayne C. Wilson [RLT 24
> (1991): 355-415] - but to my grief I don't have Bryan Boyd's "Nabokov's
> Russian Poems: A Chronology" The Nabokovian 21 (1988): 13-28)). I armed
> myself with the latest Russian editions as well, but on more than one
> occasion they don't seem to be offering their reader much in the way of
> facts. I'll explain what I mean:
>
> The Execution (Rasstrel [Byvaiut nochi, tol'ko liagu....], hereafter
> Execution-I) is universally dated "1927, Berlin" (Poems & Problems has a
> brief note at the end of the book "written in late 1927"). However, vol.
II
> of the Symposium five-volume set (see p. 551) gives "20 December, 1927,
> Berlin" - surely a mistake, since:
>
> "20 December 1927, Berlin" is the date that appears under a different, BUT
> eponymous poem ("The Execution" / Rasstrel ["Nebrityi, smeiushchiisia,
> blednyi..."], hereafter Execution-II).
>
> In fact, Mariia Malikova, editor of the recent V.V. Nabokov
> 'Stikhotvoreniia' (SPb: 2002)), corrects VN, who, according to Malikova,
> himself confused the poems in his notes to 'Poems & Problems' (in P&P VN
> tells the reader that Execution-I was published in the 'Rudder' on Jan. 8,
> 1928, whereas it was Execution-II that was printed in the paper on that
day;
> see: Stikhotvoreniia, p. 560).
>
> Most likely this understandable mistake on VN's part (who provided his
poems
> with the dates long after they had been composed) prompted Michael Juliar
to
> confuse the two on p. 489 of his Descriptive Bibliography (where he gives
> the opening line of Execution-I [in Rus.] as the first line of
Execution-II
> [in English]).
>
> In Malikova's 'Stikhotvoreniia' (2002) Execution-I is dated "Berlin,
1927" -
> back to the usual date we all know from 'Poems and Problems' and 'Stikhi'
> (the Ardis collection). The Johnson & Wilson "Lists" (RLT, p. 394) give
1927
> (month and day unknown) for Execution-I, and "12.20.27" for Execution-II,
> thus corroborating the traditional date for Execution-I (also given in
Poems
> & Problems, Stikhi [Ardis-79] and everywhere else but the Symposium
> edition). Execution-I, accidentally, was not dated when it originally
> appeared in "The Return of Churb."
>
> Confusing, innit? Shall we agree that vol. II of the Symposium edition
> misdates both poems, mixing up their dates? Any counter-arguments,
different
> sources I missed?
>
> Thank you (there's more to come!),
>
> Stas Shvabrin
From: "Shvabrin, Stanislav" <shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> Dear friends,
>
> I am trying to find as much information as possible on a number of poems
by
> VN, especially their dates (composition, publication, etc.).
Unfortunately,
> I don't have many important sources to hand (I've got Field's Bibliography
> [1973], Juliar's Dscrptv. Bibliography and the "Alphabetic & Chronological
> Lists of N's Poetry" by D. Barton Johnson and Wayne C. Wilson [RLT 24
> (1991): 355-415] - but to my grief I don't have Bryan Boyd's "Nabokov's
> Russian Poems: A Chronology" The Nabokovian 21 (1988): 13-28)). I armed
> myself with the latest Russian editions as well, but on more than one
> occasion they don't seem to be offering their reader much in the way of
> facts. I'll explain what I mean:
>
> The Execution (Rasstrel [Byvaiut nochi, tol'ko liagu....], hereafter
> Execution-I) is universally dated "1927, Berlin" (Poems & Problems has a
> brief note at the end of the book "written in late 1927"). However, vol.
II
> of the Symposium five-volume set (see p. 551) gives "20 December, 1927,
> Berlin" - surely a mistake, since:
>
> "20 December 1927, Berlin" is the date that appears under a different, BUT
> eponymous poem ("The Execution" / Rasstrel ["Nebrityi, smeiushchiisia,
> blednyi..."], hereafter Execution-II).
>
> In fact, Mariia Malikova, editor of the recent V.V. Nabokov
> 'Stikhotvoreniia' (SPb: 2002)), corrects VN, who, according to Malikova,
> himself confused the poems in his notes to 'Poems & Problems' (in P&P VN
> tells the reader that Execution-I was published in the 'Rudder' on Jan. 8,
> 1928, whereas it was Execution-II that was printed in the paper on that
day;
> see: Stikhotvoreniia, p. 560).
>
> Most likely this understandable mistake on VN's part (who provided his
poems
> with the dates long after they had been composed) prompted Michael Juliar
to
> confuse the two on p. 489 of his Descriptive Bibliography (where he gives
> the opening line of Execution-I [in Rus.] as the first line of
Execution-II
> [in English]).
>
> In Malikova's 'Stikhotvoreniia' (2002) Execution-I is dated "Berlin,
1927" -
> back to the usual date we all know from 'Poems and Problems' and 'Stikhi'
> (the Ardis collection). The Johnson & Wilson "Lists" (RLT, p. 394) give
1927
> (month and day unknown) for Execution-I, and "12.20.27" for Execution-II,
> thus corroborating the traditional date for Execution-I (also given in
Poems
> & Problems, Stikhi [Ardis-79] and everywhere else but the Symposium
> edition). Execution-I, accidentally, was not dated when it originally
> appeared in "The Return of Churb."
>
> Confusing, innit? Shall we agree that vol. II of the Symposium edition
> misdates both poems, mixing up their dates? Any counter-arguments,
different
> sources I missed?
>
> Thank you (there's more to come!),
>
> Stas Shvabrin