EDNOTE. So far as I know, there never was a VN Foreword to Laughter in the Dark. It was first published English by Bobbs, Merrill (Indianapolis) in Dec. 1938 when VN was unknown to Americna readers. Thus it falls out to the series of books englished after he name became known here.

Dear Professor Johnson,

I originally sent this message to Nabokov-L. Unfortunately, every time I try to send something to the forum, I get a failure delivery notification. I hope it is not a problem if I send the query to your address. It concerns Laughter in the Dark.

Dear Forum,

Out of the nine Russian novels translated into English by Vladimir Nabokov along with either Dmitri Nabokov, Michael Glenny or Michael Scammel, Laughter in the Dark is the only novel which lacks a Foreword. The Vintage editions of the other eight novels that I use in my research include Forewords signed by Vladimir Nabokov. Does anyone know if Laughter in the Dark was prefaced either when it was originally published in English or when re-published in 1965? If not, why is this the only novel of the nine translations not prefaced?

Thank you,

Oana Zayic