Jim Twiggs: [to Stan K-B] "the idea that Lish's
editing was a disastrous and arrogant thing is highly debatable...I agree
that, given the size of VN's reputation at the time, Lish should either have
accepted or rejected the chapter without marking it up. The interesting question
to me is why Hills, knowing Lish's own reputation, would send the manuscript to
him in the first place."
JM: Nabokov sometimes accepted, sometimes ignored E.Wilson's
advice regarding a paragraph in a short-story or novel. We can always profit
from a little outside help and from the sample I read following your indication
of Lish editorial intervention on Carver, his markings made sense (what a
wonderful way to practice English and to eliminate
"ancillae"). Nevertheless, they carved and hawed Carver away and this
is, surely, not recommendable.
btw: another mistake of mine in a former posting deserves
a correction. There is no real link bt. filisbert, philisbert and
philipena - I was carried away by the English translation of the
paragraph in Proust and lost my bearings.
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