Andrea Pitzer: In Jeffrey
Meyers' Edmund Wilson: A Biography, Meyers notes that Nabokov used the term
"a salad of racial genes" (p. 286) to describe Wilson's fourth and last
wife, Elena Mumm Thornton, who was German and Russian. The phrase, of course, is
the same that HH uses to describe his father in Lolita. The quote is not
sourced...
JM: Wilson wrote
about Elena to Nabokov in his letter dated Nov.17,1946 (n.154,p.201) "I am
marrying a girl named Elena Thornton -née Mumm and the daughter of a man who
made champagne. Her mother was Russian - named Struve."
At that time "Bend Sinister" was sent to
the printers. It was when, a propos his detestation of Malraux, VN states:
"The longer I live the more I become convinced that the only
thing that matters in literature, is the (more or less irrational) shamanstvo of
a book, i.e, that the good writer is first of all an enchanter."
(VN/EW,p.203).
In 1948 there is a discussion about a
novel "VN has beel palpating in his mind" ( Lolita) with exchanges about
Havelock Ellis's "Études de Psychologie Sexuelle,VI, Paris, 1926 case of
a "Confession sexuelle d'un Russe du Sud."
S.Karlinski, in his informative note, adds that
"Nabokov's reading in June 1948 of the nymphet hunters confession ...may well
have provided the additional stimulus for the next stage of the book's
development. Considering Wilson's subsequent dislike of Lolita, it is curious
that is was Wilson...who provided this stimulus." (p.229)
In letter 263 (Nov.30,1954)p.319, Wilson notes
about "Lolita" that
"Elena seems to have liked the book better than either
Mary or I - partly, I think, because she has seen America from the foreigner's
point of view and understands how it looks to your hero. The little girl, for
example, seems quite all right to her, though rather implausible to
me."
Mary McCarthy's letter to Wilson and forwarded
to VN (she agreed) mentions something curious about "Lolita" (amazing!)
"I thought the writing was
terribly sloppy all through, perhaps worse in the second volume. It was full of
what teachers call haziness, and all Vladimir's hollowest joeks and puns. I
almost wondered whether this wasn't deliberate - part of the
idea."
Elena's letter, sensibility
and vision:
"...The little girl seems very real
and accurate and her attractiveness and seductiveness are absolutely plausible.
The hero's disgust of grown-up women is not very different, for example, from
Gide's, the difference being that Gide is smug...your hero is made to go through
hell. The suburban, hotel, motel descriptions are just terribly funny ... Why
shouldn't the book be published in England, or certainly in France and then come
back here in a somewhat expurgated form and be read greedily? Unfortunately, my
opinion is very unimportant..." (p.321, Nov.30, 1954)
VN thanked Wilson's letter and
additions in Feb.19, 1955:"...thank you for your
letters - Elena's was especially charming."
Couldn't find VN's comments about Elena's "salad
of racial genes." This doesn't mean much because there are so many other
underlined items that I got sidetracked...