Subject
QUERY: Letter to VN's mother quoted in Boyd's VNRY
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Brian Boyd quotes a very interesting unpublished letter that VN wrote to
his mother at the time of writing MARY (I, 244-245): "My hero is not a
very likeable person, but amongst the others there are very sweet
people... I know how each one smells, walks, eats, and I understand how
God as he created the world found this a pure, thrilling joy. WE [his
emphasis] are translators of God's creation, his little plagiarists and
imitators, we dress up what he wrote, as a charmed commentator sometimes
gives an extra grace to a line of genius."
1. Was this letter originally in English or in Russian?
2. Who showed this letter to Boyd, according to his words Vera Nabokov
denied to give him VN letters to his mother?
3. Who translate this letter and from which language?
4. In Russian edition of Brian Boyd they cited the letter from original or
just translated from English edition?
Please, answer me on these questions, they are very important, because of
some difference in translations.
Rusina Volkova
[EDNOTE. Re: your second question above, this letter was presumably among the many letters from VN to his mother in the VN archives in Montreux which Brian Boyd consulted when writing his biography. Perhaps BB or DN can answer the other questions for you. -- SES]
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his mother at the time of writing MARY (I, 244-245): "My hero is not a
very likeable person, but amongst the others there are very sweet
people... I know how each one smells, walks, eats, and I understand how
God as he created the world found this a pure, thrilling joy. WE [his
emphasis] are translators of God's creation, his little plagiarists and
imitators, we dress up what he wrote, as a charmed commentator sometimes
gives an extra grace to a line of genius."
1. Was this letter originally in English or in Russian?
2. Who showed this letter to Boyd, according to his words Vera Nabokov
denied to give him VN letters to his mother?
3. Who translate this letter and from which language?
4. In Russian edition of Brian Boyd they cited the letter from original or
just translated from English edition?
Please, answer me on these questions, they are very important, because of
some difference in translations.
Rusina Volkova
[EDNOTE. Re: your second question above, this letter was presumably among the many letters from VN to his mother in the VN archives in Montreux which Brian Boyd consulted when writing his biography. Perhaps BB or DN can answer the other questions for you. -- SES]
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm