Alexander Nemser’s critique of Verses and Versions has
failed on the most fundamental account. When discussing Nabokov’s
method of literal translation, Mr. Nemser should have been examining the
method itself, instead of, in Nabokov’s own prophetic words, “crossly
fishing out of my pond some of the oddities with which I had deliberately
stocked it” (SO 252). In addition, Mr. Nemser’s claim that
Nabokov’s style lacks melodiousness, in his words, “produces the effect
of a strange harmony,” betrays his tin ear. The opening or concluding
lines of Lolita would suffice in dispelling this bizarre and
totally erroneous assertion.
The title of Mr. Nemser’s critique may be not his, but the article’s
entire manner, brash and brazen, suggests their perfect fit. It appears
that he tried to emulate the tone of Chapter Four of The Gift.
Unfortunately for Mr. Nemser, this mental experiment blew up in his face:
It is one thing when Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev, a budding literary
talent, after scrupulously researching the subject, wittily exposes
Chernyshevski’s mediocrity as a man of letters and the untenability of
his philosophical precepts, and it is another when Mr. Nemser hastily
attempts to assault the literary style and to debunk the translation
method of Nabokov-the task for which he evidently lacks the appropriate
scholarly temperament and the necessary intellectual capacity. It will
not be surprising that this critique, which in time Mr. Nemser may deeply
regret writing, will become his own nemesis.
Gavriel Shapiro