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DN: Article in "Izvestiia" (fwd)
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There were apparently some problems with the transmission of Dmitri
Nabokov's posting since it combined English and Russian. I took the
Russian out (it's now to be found solely in the attachment) and made sure
the English text is straightened out. Hope it works better now. GD
From Dmitri Nabokov:
I hasten to extend a clarification for all. Sharp-eyed Mr. Svirilin
informed me of the missing Lolita paragraph some time ago. I
checked back through all the Russian-language editions to the ms, and
found that he was right. Since the paragraph was well worth retaining in
Russian one can only conclude that my father inadvertently skipped it
while writing the translation, not on index cards, but in an album with
lined pages. There is no reason on earth to accuse Nabokov of "hiding"
this innocuous and entertaining fragment. By agreement with Olga Voronina,
my Russian agent, and with Mr. A. Kononov, director of the Symposium
publishing house, I have translated the missing paragraph and sent it to
St-Petersburg for publication in the coming edition of the Symposium
Lolita. Mr. Svirilin jumped the gun a bit and proceeded to make a
translation of his own. To be fair, I think he has made a good effort, and
there are relatively few corrections I would have made in his version,
mainly matters of style and nuance and only one real boner. At the same
time, I have borrowed a couple of felicitous locutions from his text. I
have been in touch with him and we are in full agreement that it is my
version that will be included in the new edition. My translation is now in
semi-final draft, and may undergo some very minor revisions. By the way,
here it is [Please see the attachment for Russian]
Mr. Svirilin was also diligent and kind enough to find the
"vecher-veer" typo and communicate it to me. In this case it was not
Nabokov who nodded but the first publisher of his Russian version of
Lolita. This correction, too, will be made at the earliest opportunity.
Just in case there is difficulty with this transmission, I am also sending
the Russian paragraph as an attached file.
Best to all,
DN
P.S. For Eric Naiman, with my greetings: "Pianitsa" is an old card
game that I remember from my childhood. I shall try to reconstruct its
details, but cannot promise success. I'm afraid that with serdechko
liagushki I draw a blank card.
Nabokov's posting since it combined English and Russian. I took the
Russian out (it's now to be found solely in the attachment) and made sure
the English text is straightened out. Hope it works better now. GD
From Dmitri Nabokov:
I hasten to extend a clarification for all. Sharp-eyed Mr. Svirilin
informed me of the missing Lolita paragraph some time ago. I
checked back through all the Russian-language editions to the ms, and
found that he was right. Since the paragraph was well worth retaining in
Russian one can only conclude that my father inadvertently skipped it
while writing the translation, not on index cards, but in an album with
lined pages. There is no reason on earth to accuse Nabokov of "hiding"
this innocuous and entertaining fragment. By agreement with Olga Voronina,
my Russian agent, and with Mr. A. Kononov, director of the Symposium
publishing house, I have translated the missing paragraph and sent it to
St-Petersburg for publication in the coming edition of the Symposium
Lolita. Mr. Svirilin jumped the gun a bit and proceeded to make a
translation of his own. To be fair, I think he has made a good effort, and
there are relatively few corrections I would have made in his version,
mainly matters of style and nuance and only one real boner. At the same
time, I have borrowed a couple of felicitous locutions from his text. I
have been in touch with him and we are in full agreement that it is my
version that will be included in the new edition. My translation is now in
semi-final draft, and may undergo some very minor revisions. By the way,
here it is [Please see the attachment for Russian]
Mr. Svirilin was also diligent and kind enough to find the
"vecher-veer" typo and communicate it to me. In this case it was not
Nabokov who nodded but the first publisher of his Russian version of
Lolita. This correction, too, will be made at the earliest opportunity.
Just in case there is difficulty with this transmission, I am also sending
the Russian paragraph as an attached file.
Best to all,
DN
P.S. For Eric Naiman, with my greetings: "Pianitsa" is an old card
game that I remember from my childhood. I shall try to reconstruct its
details, but cannot promise success. I'm afraid that with serdechko
liagushki I draw a blank card.