Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977
Page 27
), "peace", and mir (Mipъ), "world". I wonder if he also confuses "piece" and "whirled".1
Yours truly,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: WALTER J. MINTON
CC, 1 p.
Till July 15:
Gen. Delivery
Sedona, Arizona
July 3, 1959
Dear Walter,
Many thanks for your wire. Here is another copy of INVITATION.
Many thanks, too, for your kindness in obtaining for us the addresses of the Paris lawyers. Grasset seems to want a settlement, but I am not sure of what may come of it.
Here is something I would like to ask you: please do not ask Edmund Wilson for any endorsement of this or any other of my books. Personally, I am against all endorsements—especially the ones that come from old friends. In this case, however, I am prompted to say what I say by my utter disgust with Edmund's symbolico-social criticism and phoney erudition in regard to DOCTOR ZHIVAGO.
There is a funny LOLITA cartoon in the July Playboy.1
Regards.
As ever,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: HARRY LEVIN
CC, 1 p.
General Delivery
Sedona, Arizona
July 10, 1959
Dear Harry,
I am writing you from the depths of a marvelous, green and red, well watered Arizona canyon where the mingling of deciduous trees with desertic elements of flora forms a fascinating ecological paradox.
Where are you spending your summer? We were so sorry not to have been in Ithaca when you were there. Did they show you Herbert Gold, my talented substitute?
I am hearing all kinds of good things about your Shakespeare book.
My Pushkin opus is in the process of being published by the Bollingen people, and I have two other books coming out soon: a volume of poems and a translation, with commentaries, of The Song of Igor (without Jakobson's participation). Putnams will publish in September Dmitri's translation of a Russian novel of mine, Invitation to a Beheading. Our LOLITA is doing well in France and Italy.
I cannot believe that Poggioli1 really believes that Pasternak, whose version of HAMLET is a farce, is capable of translating Shakespeare. I can imagine how amused you were by the success of the wretched and mediocre ZHIVAGO.
Have you read two really great novels, gems of our time, Robbe-Grillet's2 LE VOYEUR and JALOUSIE?
I am getting some wonderful butterflies here. The beautiful place where we are staying has been inhabited by Max Ernst and Cholishchev in the past, but we got here by pure chance. If you ever visit the west I highly recommend this resort (Forest Houses, Oak Creek Canyon).
Regards to the whole family.
Yours,
TO: PROF. GLEB STRUVE
TL, 1 p. Hoover Institution.
General Delivery
Sedona, Arizona
14 July 1959
Dear Gleb Petrovich,
I wish I knew what idiot could have told you that I found "antisemitism" in Doctor Zhivago: I am not concerned with the "ideas" in a bad provincial novel, but how members of the Russian "intelligentsia" can avoid being jarred by the complete dismissal of the February Revolution and by the overblown treatment of the October one (what, exactly, caused Zhivago to rejoice while reading, beneath that theatrical snow, of the Soviet victory in that newspaper sheet?). And how could you, orthodox believer that you are, not be nauseated by the cheap, churchy-sugary reek? "The winter was a particularly snowy one. A frost hit on St. Pafnuty's Day" (I quote from memory). The other Boris (Zaytsev) made a better go of it. And the good doctor's poems!1 "To be a woman is a gigantic step...."
Sad. Sometimes I feel as if I had disappeared behind some remote dove-gray horizon while my former compatriots are still sipping cranberry drinks at a seaside stall.
Yours,
Vladimir Nabokov2
TO: JAMES HARRIS1
CC, 1 p.
Brockway Hotel
Brockway, California
August 12, 1959
Dear Mr. Harris,
My husband asks me to write you a few lines to explain why he decided against undertaking the writing of the script for LOLITA. The day Mr. Kubrick and you came to talk things over with him he felt quite enthusiastic about the approach to the script-writing which had been evolved in that conversation. But as the negotiations dragged on, somehow the pattern became upset, and he began to feel more and more that the thing could not be managed (at least, in so far as he was concerned) along the lines that had been suggested. A particular stumbling block became to him the idea of having the two main protagonists married with an adult relative's blessing.
He hoped that a few days of quiet thought devoted to the matter amidst the Sierra pines, in complete solitude, might trigger his imagination into finding an artistic solution which would help him to harmonize your needs with his own vision of the book. But unfortunately nothing came of it.
We both enjoyed very much meeting Mr. Kubrick and seeing you again. My husband was very pleasantly impressed by the way you two had read, and saw, the book, and has no doubts that the picture you eventually make of LOLITA will be artistic and excellent in every respect.
We both send you our best regards.
Sincerely,
(Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)
TO: PYKE JOHNSON, Jr.
CC, 1 p.
Brockway Hotel
Brockway, California
August 16, 1959
Dear Mr. Johnson,
I have decided to postpone indefinitely the writing of PALE FIRE.1 The work has not been advancing and I have come to the conclusion that the very existence of the contractual obligation has been interfering with the free development of the novel. I am not sure I shall ever write it; but if I do it will not be in the near future. Therefore, I would like to be released from all the obligations presupposed by that contract. I shall be in New York early in September and shall arrange then for the return of the advance of $2500 which I received from you under the contract for PALE FIRE, dated April 8, 1957.
I think my wife already wrote you that I am delighted with the book of poems. It is very pretty and quite substantial despite the limited number of pieces, and the butterfly, as finally evolved, is right lepidopterologically.
We are going to leave Lake Tahoe tomorrow by car. Because of a necessary sidetrip, we shall arrive in New York around the 1st of September. I shall be in touch with you upon our arrival there.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: DMITRI NABOKOV
1959
ALS, 1 p.
Los Angeles
My dear Ragazer,1
My congratulations2 and my love to you. I think in two or three months we'll see each other—if not here, then in your European haunts, else the razluka [separation, parting] will grow unbearably tedious; how is the translation of my poor Dar coming along?
We await details of your success in the concert. I ask you quite seriously: write! A longish letter should be sent to Anyuta3 too. And to Davidova.4
I am struggling with the script5—it is all very difficult and exhausting.
I embrace you
P. [for Pápa]6
TO: PRES. DEAN W. MALOTT1
CC, 1 p. Cornell University.
c/o Putnam's Sons
210 Madison Avenue
New York 16, N.Y.
September 23, 1959
Dear President Malott,
Last February I was granted a leave of absence for one year. After considerable deliberation I have now decided to ask Cornell University to release me from my duties there for good. With one thing and another I feel a sovereign urge to devote myself entirely to literary work. I have been very happy at the University and the pang of parting with it is most keen, but the burden of age is not be be discounted, and I feel that I can no longer combine the pleasures of teaching with the toil of creative writing as I have been doing for many years.
I am
sure you and the Faculty will understand.
Yours faithfully,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: GEORGE WEIDENFELD
CC, 1 p.
New York
September 25, 1959
Dear Mr. Weidenfeld,
I am glad everything is going well with the printing of LOLITA. Please do not forget to show me the proofs—unless you are absolutely certain that no misprints could occur. I shall be in Geneva not later than October 10th and can be reached there do my sister, Mme Hélène Sikorski, Palais des Nations, Bibliothèque, Genève, Switzerland. I shall spend there a fortnight at least.
Your news from India is indeed disturbing. I wonder if the guilty Pandit1 is any relation of Mme Pandit who invited me to visit her in London (we know her daughter).
Now about that Cambridge lecture. I have not heard from Mr. Annan except in an indirect way: Professor Elizabeth Hill in the letter you forwarded says "the Provost tells me that he will offer you hospitality for the night." The date (Nov. 4) would have been all right but frankly I was surprised to find myself invited by the Slavonic Department. My understanding was that I was to come as an American writer and not as a Russian professor. A lecture sponsored by the Department of English might conceivably serve your purpose in regard to the launching of LOLITA. I do not think that this purpose would be served by my appearing under the second-rate auspices of a fringe department.
Since lecturing is for me a great strain, I believe that the present arrangement would hardly justify a trip to chilly Cambridge. I suggest therefore that we drop the lecture, and that I limit my activities to being around in London when LOLITA comes out.
Let me mention in passing that ordinarily I am a very expensive lecturer though I had agreed to disregard this point for once when I envisaged my Cambridge appearance as part of your campaign rather than as an educational venture. I have retired from Cornell and am not going back.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: MORRIS AND ALISON BISHOP
TLS, 1 p. Mrs. Morris Bishop.
Hotel Beau-Rivage, Geneva
October 12, 1959
Dear Morris and Alison,
Your charming letter met us on the Liberté. The timing was perfect, and we were deeply touched.
We had a very pleasant crossing. The diet of Bonamino and Russian caviar was just right. The captain, cautiously but insistently, wanted to know just why V. had chosen the subject he had chosen (he was rather calé on Freud; he had not read Lolita). The head of Bobbs-Merrill, lodged in an adjacent cabin, did his best to lure V. away from Putnams (no "sale"). He said he had succeeded in luring Boyington.1 The boat seemed to be crawling with V.'s readers and admirers (female and male, the first predominating).
Paris was undergoing a new occupation, by le Salon de l'Auto, in this case. Not a single room in any hotel, anywhere. Crowds of roomless American tourists discussing the situation at every corner and mobbing the Express. Rather than accept a room "a few miles out of Paris" we took the night train for Geneva.
It is delightful here. We are staying till the 20th, then Paris and London. We shall be in Milan by the middle of November, we think. If Alison happens to come to Italy, Mondadori of Milan, Via Bianca di Savoia 20, will have our address. But since our plans can still change (e.g. should V. find himself in the Old Bailey), it might be safer to write us in care of V.'s sister, Mme Hélène Sikorski, Palais des Nations, Bibliothèque, Genève. Is there any chance of Morris's joining Alisons later?
It was nice of you to think of the Retirement Fund matter. We have written Mineka.
We hope to see Alison in the near future, and preferably both of you.
Love from us both to you both.
V. and V.
TO: GEORGE WEIDENFELD
CC, 1 p.
Taormina, Italy
November 26, 1959
Dear Mr. Weidenfeld,
I thank you very much for the amusing clippings Miss Cheminais was kind enough to mail to me to Rome. They have been forwarded to Taormina.
Miss Cheminais also asks me if I wanted the subscription with Romeike & Curtice renewed. In this connection I would like to draw to your attention that my publishers in other countries take care of this sort of thing for me. This seems to be customary. If I asked you to take out a subscription at my charge this was because at that time it was still uncertain whether you would be able to publish the book, and it seemed unfair to ask you to assume any expenses before you could be sure of publishing it. Moreover, two other books of mine were then about to be published by Heinemann. Since henceforth you are to be my only publisher in England, I would consider it fair that you take care of the clippings service for me. I hope you will agree.
There is something else I would like to mention. The papers recently announced that you have commissioned Aragon1 to write a history of Soviet Russia. You know of course without my telling you that the Soviet historians have made up a history of Soviet Russia which has nothing in common with the actual sequences of events (in fact, they rewrote it several times in accordance with the newly developed "party line"), and that Aragon, being a communist, will follow the Soviet version (especially, since Khrushchyov is supposed to give his blessing to the project when it has been completed). It is a sad and disappointing thing that this wonderful opportunity of setting the record straight should be missed and the Soviet lie get support from a scholarly work published in England. In saying this I am not taking it upon me to give you any advice. My only object is to put this on record, since you discussed the matter with me in New York and Geneva and asked me to suggest historians suitable for the job. I would like, however, to submit one suggestion: It might be a good idea to have the "history" written by Aragon annotated by some real scholar (not a political propagandist) who would be allowed to comment freely on the historical myth created in Moscow.
We are leaving for Genoa tomorrow morning. We shall be on Saturday at the Hotel Colombia-Excelsior, Genoa.
Sincerely,
Vladimir Nabokov
TO: MORRIS BISHOP
TLS, 1 p. Mrs. Morris Bishop.
Genoa
December 7, 1959
Dear Morris,
It was so sweet of you to write. Vladimir was delighted that you liked INVITATION. Poor Dmitri did not get enough credit from the papers, it is quite true. For reasons of copyright, this translation had to be described as done "in collaboration with the author". With the next one it will be different.
Christmas is nearing and we wonder if you are not planning to join the Alisons in Europe. If you do, we hope to see all of you. If you are not, and Alison alone may plan to visit Italy, we hope she will get in touch with us. Our best address for the time being is that of V.'s Italian publisher: do Mondadori, Via Bianca di Savoia 20, Milano.
Our Italian is definitely poor. We tried the other day to find out something about the "actualités" given in a movie here and were given in return elaborate explanations how to get to the "tualette". Sad.
While in Paris we met there (by design) the greatest French writer of the day (V's opinion backed by Véra's humble one), Robbe-Grillet. Here is a man who should be persuaded to come to the States—if only he would agree! Do read his books, especially "Jalousie" though "Le Voyeur" and his latest, "Dans le labyrinthe", are marvelous too. He is strictly original, in writing and in speaking, and this explains why the literary prize juries did not even consider him while admiring such puffed-up nonentities as Schwarz-Bart or Butor.1
We are leaving Genoa (which is lovely) for a few days in Lugano, then Milan (where Dmitri will join us), then for some quiet nook where V. could go on with his new book.
We are sending you our warmest Christmas greetings and wishes.
Sincerely,
V. and V.
TO: STANLEY KUBRICK1
CC, 2 pp.
San Remo, Italy
December 31, 1959
Dear Mr. Kubrick,
We have just received your le
tter of December 21, addressed to Milan. In the meanwhile Mr. Lazar2 has been in touch with you and with us. We are now waiting for his call but my husband welcomes this opportunity to sum up the situation in a letter from us to you.
Ever since his interview with you in Hollywood, he kept reverting in thought to the cinematic possibilities of LOLITA. The solution of the problem that had eluded him in Beverly Hills came to him in an esthetically satisfying form during our stay at Taormina. At the present time he would therefore be definitely interested in writing a script for LOLITA.
There are, however, the following considerations:
The financial terms, which must be discussed and settled between you and Mr. Lazar, must be such as to make the undertaking of this big task worth while for the author.
For the sake of a LOLITA script he is willing to lay aside and postpone a new work that he has commenced, but he is afraid that the present creative impulse pertaining to the screenplay might weaken during the course of protracted negotiations.