Subject
LOLITA at Random House addendum
Date
Body
EDITORIAL NOTE. On Aug. 31 NABOKV-L ran an account of William
Styron's tale about Random House's Bennet Cerf, editor Hyram Haydn, and
his rejection of LOLITA. The account is repeated below along with
a follow-up item.
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The September 4, 1995 issue of THE NEW YORKER has an
interesting short essay, "The Book on LOLITA," by author William Styron
(p.33). Styron got and read the Olympia Press edition in 1957. Knowing
that American publishers were shy of the book, Styron went to his editor,
Hyram Haydn, who was the new star editor at Bennet Cerf's Random House.
Haydn, to Styron's surprize, was apoplectic after reading LO. He told
Styron "that he, Hiram Haydn, had a daughter the age of the victim of
Humbert Humbert's disgusting lust, and that when my own daughter was that
age perhaps I'd understand the hatred a man might feel for LOLITA." On his
way out, Styron found Bennet Cerf gazing desolately into the distance:
"'That novel is a masterpiece,' he said in a choked voice, 'but I can't
budge the man. He said if I overruled him he would quit. He paused, then
added, 'What a WONDERFUL book.'"
--------------------------------------
Nassim Berjis at Davis calls my attention to John C. Pine's letter to the
editor in the NEW YORKER of 2 October. In 1960 Pine wrote a negative
review for _Library Journal_ of Al Hine's _Lord Love a Duck_, "a truly
tastelss and vulgar novel, published by Haydn...." His review began: "In
a recent article in _Esquire_....Mr. Hyram Haydn is quoted as saying 'I
like to make my own mistakes.' This is one of them." Pine soon got a note
from Haydn saying that when he read Pine's review "I laughed for two full
minutes. What's more that was yesterday and I have been laughing off and
on ever since." "...at myself."
I would add that Haydn was also the editor for Ayn Rand's _Atlas
Shrugged_ which made the NYTBR Best Seller list the year before LOLITA.
Haydn, an accomplished novelist himself, was reportedly pained by both
Ms. Rand's ideas and her prose, but, apparently, not so much as he was by
Nabokov's.
DBJ
Styron's tale about Random House's Bennet Cerf, editor Hyram Haydn, and
his rejection of LOLITA. The account is repeated below along with
a follow-up item.
-------------------------------
The September 4, 1995 issue of THE NEW YORKER has an
interesting short essay, "The Book on LOLITA," by author William Styron
(p.33). Styron got and read the Olympia Press edition in 1957. Knowing
that American publishers were shy of the book, Styron went to his editor,
Hyram Haydn, who was the new star editor at Bennet Cerf's Random House.
Haydn, to Styron's surprize, was apoplectic after reading LO. He told
Styron "that he, Hiram Haydn, had a daughter the age of the victim of
Humbert Humbert's disgusting lust, and that when my own daughter was that
age perhaps I'd understand the hatred a man might feel for LOLITA." On his
way out, Styron found Bennet Cerf gazing desolately into the distance:
"'That novel is a masterpiece,' he said in a choked voice, 'but I can't
budge the man. He said if I overruled him he would quit. He paused, then
added, 'What a WONDERFUL book.'"
--------------------------------------
Nassim Berjis at Davis calls my attention to John C. Pine's letter to the
editor in the NEW YORKER of 2 October. In 1960 Pine wrote a negative
review for _Library Journal_ of Al Hine's _Lord Love a Duck_, "a truly
tastelss and vulgar novel, published by Haydn...." His review began: "In
a recent article in _Esquire_....Mr. Hyram Haydn is quoted as saying 'I
like to make my own mistakes.' This is one of them." Pine soon got a note
from Haydn saying that when he read Pine's review "I laughed for two full
minutes. What's more that was yesterday and I have been laughing off and
on ever since." "...at myself."
I would add that Haydn was also the editor for Ayn Rand's _Atlas
Shrugged_ which made the NYTBR Best Seller list the year before LOLITA.
Haydn, an accomplished novelist himself, was reportedly pained by both
Ms. Rand's ideas and her prose, but, apparently, not so much as he was by
Nabokov's.
DBJ