Compared to his bibliography (which seems to merit its own Wikipedia page), I have a rather unimpressive collection of (Vladimir Vladimirovich) Nabokov's works. My first edition of "Lolita" is a well-worn 1st American edition. Published by G.P. Putnam & Sons in August of 1958, "Lolita" went to a third printing in a matter of days and sold a 100,000 copies in three weeks. Originally published by The Olympia Press in 1955. The 5,000 original Olympia Press copies sold out; prompted Graham Greene to declare it one of the three best books of 1955; and ended the career of one of the first people in Britain (Nigel Nicolson) who dared to publish what many considered "pornography". (You can read more about Lolita and The Olympia Press here.)
In April 1947 Nabokov wrote to Edmund Wilson that: "I am writing ... a short novel about a man who liked little girls—and it's going to be called The Kingdom by the Sea...." It wasn't Nabokov's first attempt at writing on the subject. "The Enchanter", "A Nursery Tale", "Laughter in the Dark", and the third chapter of "The Gift" outlines what was to come eight years later.
Nabokov and Edmund Wilson wrote to each other extensively. Nabokov wrote to Wilson to ask him what English books he should read to teach a class at Cornell. Wilson recommended Dickens' "Bleak House" and "Little Dorrit" and Jane Austen.
Nabokov scoffed. He didn't like female novelists. "Thanks for suggestion concerning my fiction course. I dislike Jane, and am prejudiced, in fact, against all women writers. They are in another class. Could never see anything in Pride and Prejudice....I shall take Stevension instead of Jane A."
Wilson pressed him. "You are mistaken about Jane Austen. I think you ought to read Mansfield Park....She is, in my opinion, one of the half dozen greatest English writers (the others being Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Keats, and Dickens)."
Nabokov later wrote back to Wilson, "....I have obtained Mansfield Park and I think I shall use it too in my course. Thanks for these most useful suggestions." Six months later, he wrote to Wilson again singing a different tune.
"I want to make my mid-term report on the two books you suggested I should discuss with my students. In connection with Mansfield Park I had them read the works mentioned by the characters in the novel - the two first canto of "Lay of the Last Minstrel", Cowper's "The Task, passages from King Henry the Eighth, Crabbe's tale "The Parring Hour", bits of Johnson's The Idler, Browne's address to "A Pipe of Tobacco" (Imitation of Pope), Sterne's Sentimental Journey (the whole "gate-and-no-key" passage comes from there - and the starling) and of course Lovers' Vows in Mrs. Inchblad's inimitable translation (a scream)....I think I had more fun than my class."
But the real reason why I'm currently obsessed with Nabokov, is because re-reading "Lolita" reminded me that it is a work of genius by a man who mastered the English language - and it wasn't even his mother tongue! Reading his Lectures on Literature is just my way of seeking out my newest inspiration-sensei for more wisdom.
And here's a real gem that would alone make me glad that somehow this book is in my library:
“Literature was not born the day when a boy crying "wolf, wolf" came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels; literature was born on the day when a boy came crying "wolf, wolf" and there was no wolf behind him.”
In April 1947 Nabokov wrote to Edmund Wilson that: "I am writing ... a short novel about a man who liked little girls—and it's going to be called The Kingdom by the Sea...." It wasn't Nabokov's first attempt at writing on the subject. "The Enchanter", "A Nursery Tale", "Laughter in the Dark", and the third chapter of "The Gift" outlines what was to come eight years later.
Nabokov and Edmund Wilson wrote to each other extensively. Nabokov wrote to Wilson to ask him what English books he should read to teach a class at Cornell. Wilson recommended Dickens' "Bleak House" and "Little Dorrit" and Jane Austen.
Nabokov scoffed. He didn't like female novelists. "Thanks for suggestion concerning my fiction course. I dislike Jane, and am prejudiced, in fact, against all women writers. They are in another class. Could never see anything in Pride and Prejudice....I shall take Stevension instead of Jane A."
Wilson pressed him. "You are mistaken about Jane Austen. I think you ought to read Mansfield Park....She is, in my opinion, one of the half dozen greatest English writers (the others being Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Keats, and Dickens)."
Nabokov later wrote back to Wilson, "....I have obtained Mansfield Park and I think I shall use it too in my course. Thanks for these most useful suggestions." Six months later, he wrote to Wilson again singing a different tune.
"I want to make my mid-term report on the two books you suggested I should discuss with my students. In connection with Mansfield Park I had them read the works mentioned by the characters in the novel - the two first canto of "Lay of the Last Minstrel", Cowper's "The Task, passages from King Henry the Eighth, Crabbe's tale "The Parring Hour", bits of Johnson's The Idler, Browne's address to "A Pipe of Tobacco" (Imitation of Pope), Sterne's Sentimental Journey (the whole "gate-and-no-key" passage comes from there - and the starling) and of course Lovers' Vows in Mrs. Inchblad's inimitable translation (a scream)....I think I had more fun than my class."
But the real reason why I'm currently obsessed with Nabokov, is because re-reading "Lolita" reminded me that it is a work of genius by a man who mastered the English language - and it wasn't even his mother tongue! Reading his Lectures on Literature is just my way of seeking out my newest inspiration-sensei for more wisdom.
And here's a real gem that would alone make me glad that somehow this book is in my library:
“Literature was not born the day when a boy crying "wolf, wolf" came running out of the Neanderthal valley with a big gray wolf at his heels; literature was born on the day when a boy came crying "wolf, wolf" and there was no wolf behind him.”
