Dear list members (and especially DN),

Dmitri Nabokov writes that the forthcoming, properly licensed edition of his father's collected poetry in Russian, edited by Maria Malikova, "should be better in every way." I agree that Nabokovians ought not to purchase the current edition, because of the legal concerns, but precisely in what way will the next edition be an improvement, other than the probable omission of poetic juvenilia (which may have been of interest to some scholars, in spite of VN's hope that it not be published)?

On a more pleasant note, I am sure that many Nabokovians are anxiously awaiting Dmitri Nabokov's comprehensive edition of his father's poems in English, which will replace and augment what was available in the currently out-of-print POEMS AND PROBLEMS. This may be a good opportunity for Dmitri to give us an update on the publication progress of that volume.

Jamie L. Olson
English Ph.D. student, The University of Michigan

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At 07:04 PM 04/10/2003 -0700, you wrote:

----- Original Message -----
From: Dmitri Nabokov

ONCE AGAIN, WE MUST BE MORE DESCRIMINATING BEFORE ENTHUSING. THE MALIKOV BOOK WAS AN OUTRIGHT PIRACY, AND ENGENDERED A SERIOUS QUARREL INVOLVING ME, NIKKI SMITH, AND OLGA VORONIN VS. THE SWINISH PUBLISHER . MALIKOVA HERSELF, A DECENT SCHOLAR, WAS INCENSED WITH AKADEMPROJECT'S SCANDALOUS DISREGARD FOR COPYRIGHTS AND LICENSING. NIKKI SMITH HAD PROPOSED A MEAGER $1000 ADVANCE; THE RESPONSE WAS "WE CAN'T PAY -- WE'LL PUBLISH ANYWAY." WHEN I SAID MY FATHER DID NOT WANT TO HAVE SOME OF THE JUVENILIA PRINTED, I WAS RUDELY REBUKED FOR INTERFERING. ANYWAY, THIS HAS NOW BEEN CHANGED, TAILS HAVE BEEN TUCKED UP, AND REPUBLICATION, WITH PROPER LICENSING ETC., IS ON THE WAY. I RECOMMEND WAITING FOR THE NEW VERSION, WHICH SHOULD BE BETTER IN EVERY WAY, AND NOT FORGETTING THAT THE PUBICATION GANGSTERS ARE STILL OUT THERE IN FULL FORCE.

GREETINGS,

DN

-----Original Message-----
From: Sandy Klein [mailto:sk@starcapital.net]
Sent: mercredi, 9. avril 2003 16:02
To: cangrande@bluewin.ch
Subject: VN Bibiolgraphy: Mariia Malikova VN's collected poetry (in Russian)

From: D. Barton Johnson [mailto:chtodel@cox.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 4:42 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: VN Bibiolgraphy: Mariia Malikova VN's collected poetry (in Russian)

V.V. Nabokov. _Stixitvoreniia_. Compiled and annotated with introductory essay by Mariia E.Malikova. Novaia biblioteka poeta. Sankt-Peterburg. Akademicheskii pro”ekt, 2002. pp. 655. ISBN 5-7331-0160-1.

This is an important book for Nabokov studies. It brings together in a single volume 477 poems from VN’s published oeuvre with Dr. Malikova’s 50 page introduction “A Forgotten Poet”--a first-rate survey of Nabokov as a poet. (Malikova is also the author of the new monograph on Nabokov -- _Avto-Bio-grafiia_ as well as numerous articles. She was one of the team of scholars that annotated the recent ten-volume Symposium centennial edition of Nabokov. In addition to her introductory essay she here provides a hundred pages of notes and commentary.

Almost all of VN’s Russian poetry is available in the multi-volume centennial edition, but the present volume offers several advantages as well as additional primary and secondary material. Foremost, it contains everything in a single volume together with an alphabetical index of titles and/or first lines

There are a few lacunae noted by the editor. None of the dramas in verse are included but are easily available in the Symposium edition – apart from “Tragediia gospodina Morn.” The only missing poems (individually published) are those that VN wrote (mostly) during 1923-24 but published for the first time in the 1979 Ardis _Stixi_ volume. (The titles/first lines of these are, however, included in the Biblioteka poeta volume – a considerable benefit for the scholar. Permission from the Nabokov Estate could not be obtained for the latter or for those now in the Nabokov archives at the NYPL Berg Collection, the Library of Congress, or in the family archives in Montreux. Also excluded are verse fragments from Nabokov’s _Alice in Wonderland_ translation and from the short stories. Poetry from within the novels is included.

Another admirable feature is the inclusion of all of Nabokov’s English poetry and his translations. The latter include those from English and French into Russian; from Russian into English; and Russian into French.

This volume deserves to become the standard citation addition for scholarly work on the poetry.