Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008871, Thu, 6 Nov 2003 17:05:48 -0800

Subject
Fw: QUERY: "a fake from beginning to end". VN & Franz Werfel.
Bellino reponds to Naiman
Date
Body
lines) ----------------------- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Bellino" <iambe@rcn.com>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@listserv.ucsb.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: QUERY: "a fake from beginning to end"

> A little detective work turns it up: the book is The Song of
> Bernadette by Franz Werfel, a huge bestseller in 1942 and
> 1943, and still in print. It was also of course made into a
> movie.
>
> The ad Nabokov refers to in his discussion of poshlost'
> (Nikolai Gogol 68-69) ran in the NY Times on August 9, 1942,
> and perhaps also later (and of course possibly in other
> newspapers too; Nabokov might have been looking at a Boston
> paper). The quotes VN gives are verbatim, and there are
> many, many more along the same lines.
>
> What in particular roused Nabov's ire about The Song of
> Bernadette and its blurb-writers is another question. 1942
> was a dim year for bestsellers; other possible contenders
> for the Nabokovian lash include The Robe by Lloyd Douglas
> and The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck. Maybe it was the
> "whole page ad" itself; prior to the success of Lolita
> Nabokov was lucky if he got a small text ad. Perhaps he was
> trying to plant a seed in James Laughlin's mind about a big
> ad campaign for Nikolai Gogol.
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EDNOTE. A nice piece of detective work by Mary Bellino, classicist and
Associate Editor of NABOKOV STUDIES. I seem to recall VN also makes a
snide, semi-coded reference to Mr. Werfel in Bend Sinister. It is is also
my very hazy recollection that Werfel, a German Jewish refugee who made it
to Hollywood, wrote part of "Bernadette" while staying at the Biltmore
Hotel here in Santa Barbara. Didn't Jennifer Jones play B. in the film? (Or
maybe it was "Jakobowski and the Colonel", a comic novel that was turned
into a movie with Danny Kaye, that was written in Santa Barbara.) Werfel
escaped Hitler's invasion of France by fleeing afoot over the mountainous
border and stayed at Lourdes en route. He vowed to write B. if he escaped.
All from my memory. Hence unchecked and suspect.