Subject
QUERY: Missing ENCHANTER and the story Edmund Wilson read
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Robert Roper (robertroper@earthlink.net) writes:
The standard acct of the publication of *The Enchanter* is that N wrote
*Volshebnik* in '39, then thought he lost the sole copy, only to rediscover
it in '59. (In that year he wrote a letter to publisher Walter Minton
saying it might be interesting to bring out, as a precursor to *Lolita*.)
Then in the mid-80s Dmitri made his excellent translation, published '86.
But Edmund Wilson, in his letter of Nov. 30, '54, giving his tepid response
to *Lolita*, which he had just partly-read in ms., says, "Now about your
novel: I like it less than anything else of yours I have read. The short
story that it grew out of was interesting, but I don't think the subject
can stand this very extended treatment": *DBDV*, p 320.
What story is Wilson talking about? Had N shown him (therefore,
rediscovered earlier) the *Volshebnik* ms? Wilson was still in a hot
period of his enthusiasm for Russian, so he might have been up to
reading the original, or at least part of it.
Any info or ideas much welcome-
Robert Roper
--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
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The standard acct of the publication of *The Enchanter* is that N wrote
*Volshebnik* in '39, then thought he lost the sole copy, only to rediscover
it in '59. (In that year he wrote a letter to publisher Walter Minton
saying it might be interesting to bring out, as a precursor to *Lolita*.)
Then in the mid-80s Dmitri made his excellent translation, published '86.
But Edmund Wilson, in his letter of Nov. 30, '54, giving his tepid response
to *Lolita*, which he had just partly-read in ms., says, "Now about your
novel: I like it less than anything else of yours I have read. The short
story that it grew out of was interesting, but I don't think the subject
can stand this very extended treatment": *DBDV*, p 320.
What story is Wilson talking about? Had N shown him (therefore,
rediscovered earlier) the *Volshebnik* ms? Wilson was still in a hot
period of his enthusiasm for Russian, so he might have been up to
reading the original, or at least part of it.
Any info or ideas much welcome-
Robert Roper
--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L