Subject
DN on Lolita films
Date
Body
Editor's NOTE. This item continues a series of observations made by Dmitri
Nabokov in his fax of March 17.
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"What little I have seen so far of Lyne's film, reports from people I
trust, and my direct contact with those involved, are promising. The `R'
rating it has received will quell the media drivel about censorship and
distribution problems. I shall probably see a close-to-final version of
the picture in L.A. in late April. There is a chance that it will be shown
at the Cannes Festival. I am correcting the Italian translation of VN's
_Screenplay_ so Bompiani can synchronize publication should that happen.
In discussing the new film in a clipping jusst received from my service,
the Italian edition of of _Penthouse_ shows it has read as little of
LOLITA as its opposite, _The Daily Mail_'s ecclesiastical bigot Oddie, in
attributing the century's ills to jazz, the Beatles, and LOLITA: both
affirm it is Humbert who kills Charlotte. For those concerned with VN's
appraisal of Kubrick's film, they need search no further than VN's
Foreword to his currently reissued _Screenplay_. I think he might have
liked _Clockwork Orange_ and perhaps much of _2001_, although I think he
saw neither. If Matt Morris can show me VN's "contractual obligation never
to say anything bad about Kubrick's version" of LOLITA I'll be glad to
send him a regurgitated slice of humble pie. By pure chance, I have the
original contract in front of me as I write and see nothing of the kind. I
do vaguely recall a long-ago outraged guffaw elicited from father by such
a notion. He often bent over backwards to be nice to his co-workers. I
would hardly qualify as "disingenuousness," for example, his kind words
about the late Bruno Oddera's dismal translation of LOLITA for Mondadori.
Its republication has been blocked, I am happy to say, and replaced by a
totally new, extremely faithful one that, with the help of Adelphi's good
distribution, was again a best-seller in 1996. As NABOKV-L may or may not
know, the French firm ICE3 has picked up the option for a film version of
BEND SINISTER."
Nabokov in his fax of March 17.
-------------------------------
"What little I have seen so far of Lyne's film, reports from people I
trust, and my direct contact with those involved, are promising. The `R'
rating it has received will quell the media drivel about censorship and
distribution problems. I shall probably see a close-to-final version of
the picture in L.A. in late April. There is a chance that it will be shown
at the Cannes Festival. I am correcting the Italian translation of VN's
_Screenplay_ so Bompiani can synchronize publication should that happen.
In discussing the new film in a clipping jusst received from my service,
the Italian edition of of _Penthouse_ shows it has read as little of
LOLITA as its opposite, _The Daily Mail_'s ecclesiastical bigot Oddie, in
attributing the century's ills to jazz, the Beatles, and LOLITA: both
affirm it is Humbert who kills Charlotte. For those concerned with VN's
appraisal of Kubrick's film, they need search no further than VN's
Foreword to his currently reissued _Screenplay_. I think he might have
liked _Clockwork Orange_ and perhaps much of _2001_, although I think he
saw neither. If Matt Morris can show me VN's "contractual obligation never
to say anything bad about Kubrick's version" of LOLITA I'll be glad to
send him a regurgitated slice of humble pie. By pure chance, I have the
original contract in front of me as I write and see nothing of the kind. I
do vaguely recall a long-ago outraged guffaw elicited from father by such
a notion. He often bent over backwards to be nice to his co-workers. I
would hardly qualify as "disingenuousness," for example, his kind words
about the late Bruno Oddera's dismal translation of LOLITA for Mondadori.
Its republication has been blocked, I am happy to say, and replaced by a
totally new, extremely faithful one that, with the help of Adelphi's good
distribution, was again a best-seller in 1996. As NABOKV-L may or may not
know, the French firm ICE3 has picked up the option for a film version of
BEND SINISTER."