Subject
Lo "Diary" to be published in Britain with Dmitri Nabokov's
Preface (fwd)
Preface (fwd)
Date
Body
I thought you might be interested in piece in The Times (27 Jun). Note
the British reference to VV's playing in goal for Trinity College--nice touch
that no Yank would note in a similar piece in the Washington Post.
Alphonse
June 27 1999 BRITAIN
THE TIMES
Lolita the feminist tells it her way
by Richard Woods
LOLITA is to have her say, after all. A "feminist" version of Vladimir
Nabokov's famous tale of an older man's infatuation with a nymphet is set to
be published in Britain after the resolution of a legal battle over
copyright.
The book, entitled Lo's Diary, retells from the young girl's perspective the
story of Professor Humbert Humbert's lust for 12-year-old Dolores Haze, known
as Lolita.
The original novel, published in 1955, is narrated by Humbert, a man in his
forties, who marries Lolita's mother to gain access to the child who is the
object of his desire.
The mother dies and Humbert embarks on an abusive affair with Lolita. As they
travel across America, she falls for a younger man and the book ends in
tragedy as both Humbert and Lolita die.
Pia Pera, an Italian writer, has adjusted and renamed some characters and
made Lolita a blatant seductress who flutters her eyelids, blows bubblegum
and sucks it slowly back into her mouth.
"Now the perspective of the teenager's psyche is brought into focus through
the new feminist consciousness of the last 30 years," reads the blurb
intended for the American edition. "She [Lolita] is a maturing young woman
seen through the eyes of another woman." This new Lolita seduces Humbert in a
motel but finds him "a sexual parasite" and disappointingly passive. She
eventually rids herself of him after making him drunk, and ends up travelling
to Los Angeles for a film test.
When Pera's reworking, told in diary form, was prepared for publication in
America and Britain last year, it was billed as funny and a parody. The
estate of Nabokov, who died in 1977, was not amused. Pera's book, claimed
lawyers, was a rip-off, "aesthetic and literary vampirism" and "inferior and
amateurish". Nabokov's son, Dimitri, ordered proceedings to block
publication.
It was a complicated issue: sequels and prequels can be blocked under
copyright law but parodies and "transformations" are often allowed. Lo's
Diary shaped up to be an important legal test of where to draw the line -
until the publisher caved in before the case came to court, partly fearing it
might open the way for its own titles to be reworked.
Enter Barney Rosset, a 76-year-old literary entrepreneur, who published many
of Samuel Beckett's books and tried to publish the original of Lolita. Rosset
contacted the Nabokov estate and concocted a deal.
"Nobody had proposed that he [Dimitri] share royalties and to have him write
a preface to the book," said Rosset last week. "I made that proposal, and he
agreed."
No longer does Dimitri see Pera's book as "vampirish" and "amateur". He is to
get 5% of the royalties - which he will give to Pen, the writers'
organisation - and will be allowed to write a preface that Pera will not see
before publication.
In Britain, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, which published all Nabokov's books, is
considering the manuscript. "We are taking it very seriously," said Ion
Trewin, managing director.
Critical opinion on Pera's book, which has appeared on the Continent, has
been mixed and controversy has never been far from any appearance of Lolita.
When Nabokov's tale first appeared, it provoked bans in some countries and
was condemned in parliament as obscene. Nabokov, a professor of literature
who used to play in goal for Trinity College, Cambridge, as a student,
retorted: "I was surprised how silly people could get."
The book was not published in Nabokov's native Russia until 1989. More than
40 years after Lolita was born, public outrage still went into overdrive when
a Hollywood film of the story appeared in 1998, starring Jeremy Irons and
Dominique Swain, 14.
"Perverts will flock to this travesty," warned one tabloid. "The public
should vote with their feet and stay away," advised Jack Cunningham, now the
cabinet "enforcer".
Pera was not afraid of Lolita's reputation. She maintains that all she has
done is to take up Nabokov's challenge, implicit in his book, to delve
further into the mind of Lolita.
At one point Humbert says: "I simply did not know a thing about my darling's
mind. Oh, that I were a lady writer who could have her pose naked in a naked
light."
Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times
Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to
reproduce material from The Sunday Times, visit the Syndication website.
the British reference to VV's playing in goal for Trinity College--nice touch
that no Yank would note in a similar piece in the Washington Post.
Alphonse
June 27 1999 BRITAIN
THE TIMES
Lolita the feminist tells it her way
by Richard Woods
LOLITA is to have her say, after all. A "feminist" version of Vladimir
Nabokov's famous tale of an older man's infatuation with a nymphet is set to
be published in Britain after the resolution of a legal battle over
copyright.
The book, entitled Lo's Diary, retells from the young girl's perspective the
story of Professor Humbert Humbert's lust for 12-year-old Dolores Haze, known
as Lolita.
The original novel, published in 1955, is narrated by Humbert, a man in his
forties, who marries Lolita's mother to gain access to the child who is the
object of his desire.
The mother dies and Humbert embarks on an abusive affair with Lolita. As they
travel across America, she falls for a younger man and the book ends in
tragedy as both Humbert and Lolita die.
Pia Pera, an Italian writer, has adjusted and renamed some characters and
made Lolita a blatant seductress who flutters her eyelids, blows bubblegum
and sucks it slowly back into her mouth.
"Now the perspective of the teenager's psyche is brought into focus through
the new feminist consciousness of the last 30 years," reads the blurb
intended for the American edition. "She [Lolita] is a maturing young woman
seen through the eyes of another woman." This new Lolita seduces Humbert in a
motel but finds him "a sexual parasite" and disappointingly passive. She
eventually rids herself of him after making him drunk, and ends up travelling
to Los Angeles for a film test.
When Pera's reworking, told in diary form, was prepared for publication in
America and Britain last year, it was billed as funny and a parody. The
estate of Nabokov, who died in 1977, was not amused. Pera's book, claimed
lawyers, was a rip-off, "aesthetic and literary vampirism" and "inferior and
amateurish". Nabokov's son, Dimitri, ordered proceedings to block
publication.
It was a complicated issue: sequels and prequels can be blocked under
copyright law but parodies and "transformations" are often allowed. Lo's
Diary shaped up to be an important legal test of where to draw the line -
until the publisher caved in before the case came to court, partly fearing it
might open the way for its own titles to be reworked.
Enter Barney Rosset, a 76-year-old literary entrepreneur, who published many
of Samuel Beckett's books and tried to publish the original of Lolita. Rosset
contacted the Nabokov estate and concocted a deal.
"Nobody had proposed that he [Dimitri] share royalties and to have him write
a preface to the book," said Rosset last week. "I made that proposal, and he
agreed."
No longer does Dimitri see Pera's book as "vampirish" and "amateur". He is to
get 5% of the royalties - which he will give to Pen, the writers'
organisation - and will be allowed to write a preface that Pera will not see
before publication.
In Britain, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, which published all Nabokov's books, is
considering the manuscript. "We are taking it very seriously," said Ion
Trewin, managing director.
Critical opinion on Pera's book, which has appeared on the Continent, has
been mixed and controversy has never been far from any appearance of Lolita.
When Nabokov's tale first appeared, it provoked bans in some countries and
was condemned in parliament as obscene. Nabokov, a professor of literature
who used to play in goal for Trinity College, Cambridge, as a student,
retorted: "I was surprised how silly people could get."
The book was not published in Nabokov's native Russia until 1989. More than
40 years after Lolita was born, public outrage still went into overdrive when
a Hollywood film of the story appeared in 1998, starring Jeremy Irons and
Dominique Swain, 14.
"Perverts will flock to this travesty," warned one tabloid. "The public
should vote with their feet and stay away," advised Jack Cunningham, now the
cabinet "enforcer".
Pera was not afraid of Lolita's reputation. She maintains that all she has
done is to take up Nabokov's challenge, implicit in his book, to delve
further into the mind of Lolita.
At one point Humbert says: "I simply did not know a thing about my darling's
mind. Oh, that I were a lady writer who could have her pose naked in a naked
light."
Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times
Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to
reproduce material from The Sunday Times, visit the Syndication website.