Subject
Re: A 1924 review of Nabokov's 1923 Anya in Wonderland just found!
From
Date
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It's easy to imagine that Nabokov is the author of this review. It could
be fitted exactly into The Gift.
On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 10:49 AM, Fet, Victor <fet@marshall.edu> wrote:
> The ONLY existing, very brief, and *VERY negative* review of Nabokov’s 1923 *Anya* (in an émigré journal) was just discovered in 2016 by Galina Glushanok!! No one wrote about *Anya* until Karlinsky 1970…
>
>
>
> Attached article in Russian has it text.
>
> I made an English translation of the review, see below.
>
>
>
> I also found the original online, attached in PDF.
>
> http://kramerius.nkp.cz/kramerius/handle/ABA001/31395884 (djvu)
>
>
>
> This review was published in a Russian émigré journal *Русская школа за
> рубежом* (Russkaia shkola za rubezhom [The Russian School Abroad],
> Prague, 1924, 5-6: 216.
>
>
>
> Funny but I know the review's author's name, Dr *Evgenii Elachich* (Евгений Александрович Елачич, 1880-1944, a bio attached in Russian); he was a zoologist who emigrated in 1917 to Yugoslavia but before 1917 he published a lot in Russia about Polar fauna, birds, dinosaurs etc., as well as children literature.
>
>
>
> Victor Fet
>
>
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>
> "L. Carroll. *Anya in Wonderland*. Trans. from English. V. Sirin, with
> ill by. SA Zalshupin. 114 pp. Ed. "Gamayun". Berlin, 1923.
>
>
> No matter what the pedagogical criticism says, no matter what it states,
> books like this one will still be written, published and presented to
> children. Children will read this nonsense, and parents will think and
> argue that such reading "contributes to the development of children's
> imagination." Conscious of my complete frustration in this respect, I still
> want to repeat again and again the arguments which aren’t new. The
> Carroll’s book appeared in the Russian translation long time ago, and even,
> I think, in different translations and retellings. It is clearly designed
> for the bad taste of parents and the indiscrimination of child readers. It
> is a fairy tale, - but there is nothing poetic or heart-felt in it, which
> would give an inherent charm to a good fairy tale. This is a long set of
> insipid and deliberately invented (rather than artistically created),
> exaggerated, incredible adventures and wonders. The wit lies in the fact
> that the girl is constantly changing in size, her neck is stretched a few
> meters, then she becomes very tiny, etc. Many children are very willing to
> read such and, for them, indisputable nonsense: dancing lobsters with
> turtles, playing croquet, as hedgehogs serve as balls and flamingos [*as
> mallets - VF*], etc., etc., but who needs it? Is there at least a shadow
> of benefit from reading such a non-poetic nonsense? I doubt that; but the
> harm of such a book, in my opinion, is certain. So, for example, as the
> transformations of the girl are described, she confuses everything and,
> recollecting verses, recites:
>
>
>
>
> *Say, uncle, it's not for nothing. That you are considered very old, After
> all, really, your hair is gray, And you have grown incredibly fat ...*
> (page 42), etc., and so on.
>
> In another place another "poem" is given:
>
>
>
>
> *Howl, my beautiful baby, If you will sneeze - I will beat you, You [are
> doing it] on purpose - it's clear ... Bye-bye* ... (page 53), etc.
>
> These doubtfully clever remakes are easily remembered, but is it good?
> Children are just beginning to get acquainted with poetry, they would need
> to be taught to feel the beauty of Lermontov's verse, taught to love it,
> and here an ugly, uneasy parody, a mockery is introduced into the child's
> head. And again, some will refer to the fact that "children are so willing
> to read," and seriously believe that in this case this is an argument in
> favor of this book. It still seems to me that those parents and educators
> who want to instill in children respect for the book from early childhood,
> to develop in them good taste, artistic flair and love for their native
> poetry, would have to save their children from clogging their young brains
> with such low-quality literature.
>
>
> Evgenii Elachich
>
>
>
> (transl. Victor Fet, 09.06.2017)
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> Google Search
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> the archive
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> Contact
> <dana.dragunoiu@gmail.com,nabokv-l@utk.edu,shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> NOJ
> <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Zembla
> <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> Nabokv-L
> <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm>
> Policies <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm> Subscription options
> <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L> AdaOnline
> <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> NSJ Ada Annotations
> <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> L-Soft Search the archive
> <https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L> VN Bibliography
> Blog <http://vnbiblio.com/>
>
> All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
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,dana.dragunoiu@gmail.com,shvabrin@humnet.ucla.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
be fitted exactly into The Gift.
On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 10:49 AM, Fet, Victor <fet@marshall.edu> wrote:
> The ONLY existing, very brief, and *VERY negative* review of Nabokov’s 1923 *Anya* (in an émigré journal) was just discovered in 2016 by Galina Glushanok!! No one wrote about *Anya* until Karlinsky 1970…
>
>
>
> Attached article in Russian has it text.
>
> I made an English translation of the review, see below.
>
>
>
> I also found the original online, attached in PDF.
>
> http://kramerius.nkp.cz/kramerius/handle/ABA001/31395884 (djvu)
>
>
>
> This review was published in a Russian émigré journal *Русская школа за
> рубежом* (Russkaia shkola za rubezhom [The Russian School Abroad],
> Prague, 1924, 5-6: 216.
>
>
>
> Funny but I know the review's author's name, Dr *Evgenii Elachich* (Евгений Александрович Елачич, 1880-1944, a bio attached in Russian); he was a zoologist who emigrated in 1917 to Yugoslavia but before 1917 he published a lot in Russia about Polar fauna, birds, dinosaurs etc., as well as children literature.
>
>
>
> Victor Fet
>
>
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>
> "L. Carroll. *Anya in Wonderland*. Trans. from English. V. Sirin, with
> ill by. SA Zalshupin. 114 pp. Ed. "Gamayun". Berlin, 1923.
>
>
> No matter what the pedagogical criticism says, no matter what it states,
> books like this one will still be written, published and presented to
> children. Children will read this nonsense, and parents will think and
> argue that such reading "contributes to the development of children's
> imagination." Conscious of my complete frustration in this respect, I still
> want to repeat again and again the arguments which aren’t new. The
> Carroll’s book appeared in the Russian translation long time ago, and even,
> I think, in different translations and retellings. It is clearly designed
> for the bad taste of parents and the indiscrimination of child readers. It
> is a fairy tale, - but there is nothing poetic or heart-felt in it, which
> would give an inherent charm to a good fairy tale. This is a long set of
> insipid and deliberately invented (rather than artistically created),
> exaggerated, incredible adventures and wonders. The wit lies in the fact
> that the girl is constantly changing in size, her neck is stretched a few
> meters, then she becomes very tiny, etc. Many children are very willing to
> read such and, for them, indisputable nonsense: dancing lobsters with
> turtles, playing croquet, as hedgehogs serve as balls and flamingos [*as
> mallets - VF*], etc., etc., but who needs it? Is there at least a shadow
> of benefit from reading such a non-poetic nonsense? I doubt that; but the
> harm of such a book, in my opinion, is certain. So, for example, as the
> transformations of the girl are described, she confuses everything and,
> recollecting verses, recites:
>
>
>
>
> *Say, uncle, it's not for nothing. That you are considered very old, After
> all, really, your hair is gray, And you have grown incredibly fat ...*
> (page 42), etc., and so on.
>
> In another place another "poem" is given:
>
>
>
>
> *Howl, my beautiful baby, If you will sneeze - I will beat you, You [are
> doing it] on purpose - it's clear ... Bye-bye* ... (page 53), etc.
>
> These doubtfully clever remakes are easily remembered, but is it good?
> Children are just beginning to get acquainted with poetry, they would need
> to be taught to feel the beauty of Lermontov's verse, taught to love it,
> and here an ugly, uneasy parody, a mockery is introduced into the child's
> head. And again, some will refer to the fact that "children are so willing
> to read," and seriously believe that in this case this is an argument in
> favor of this book. It still seems to me that those parents and educators
> who want to instill in children respect for the book from early childhood,
> to develop in them good taste, artistic flair and love for their native
> poetry, would have to save their children from clogging their young brains
> with such low-quality literature.
>
>
> Evgenii Elachich
>
>
>
> (transl. Victor Fet, 09.06.2017)
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> Google Search
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> the archive
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> Contact
> <dana.dragunoiu@gmail.com,nabokv-l@utk.edu,shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu>
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> NOJ
> <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Zembla
> <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> Nabokv-L
> <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm>
> Policies <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm> Subscription options
> <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L> AdaOnline
> <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> NSJ Ada Annotations
> <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> L-Soft Search the archive
> <https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L> VN Bibliography
> Blog <http://vnbiblio.com/>
>
> All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
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,dana.dragunoiu@gmail.com,shvabrin@humnet.ucla.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