Subject
Bibliographical errors in The Stories of VN (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Bart Eeckhout <Bart.Eeckhout@rug.ac.be>
Venerable Nabokovians:
I am currently in the process of reviewing VN's collected stories for a
Belgian literary magazine. As a relatively long-term subscriber to this list
I am aware of all the observations previously made here, but I have a few
additional, minor questions concerning the bibliographical apparatus at the
end of the book. On p. 642 (Knopf edition), VN is quoted as saying that
"Details of a Sunset" was "included in the collection Soglyadatay, Slovo,
Berlin, 1930." I first overlooked this, but since my review is to include
the Dutch translations of the stories, I noticed that the translator has
added a footnote to point out that this is a mistake: it should be
Vozvrashchenie Chorba, not Soglyadatay (which was published in Paris, 1938).
This seems likely enough but I would prefer to have it confirmed. Also, is
the mistake simply copied from VN himself or is Dmitri responsible for it?
Secondly, on p. 643 "The Fight" is said to have been published earlier in
Dmitri's translation in The New Yorker of February 18, 1985. Is that date
correct? I have a hunch, on the basis of the publication history of the
other recently translated stories, that this should be 1995 instead of 1985,
but cannot be sure without your collective expertise.
Incidentally, the Dutch translations of the stories (published in two
volumes) do contain the final section of The Potato Elf missing in my early
edition (third printing).
Despite the pedantic nature of the above questions you can rest assured that
I am deriving the most mischievous delight from reading the book.
Bart Eeckhout
Research Assistant
English Department
University of Ghent
Rozier 44
B-9000 Ghent
Belgium
+32-9-264-3793 (office)
+32-9-264-4184 (fax)
+32-9-222-9592 (home)
Bart.Eeckhout@rug.ac.be (e-mail)
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~sslembro/bee.html (homepage)
Venerable Nabokovians:
I am currently in the process of reviewing VN's collected stories for a
Belgian literary magazine. As a relatively long-term subscriber to this list
I am aware of all the observations previously made here, but I have a few
additional, minor questions concerning the bibliographical apparatus at the
end of the book. On p. 642 (Knopf edition), VN is quoted as saying that
"Details of a Sunset" was "included in the collection Soglyadatay, Slovo,
Berlin, 1930." I first overlooked this, but since my review is to include
the Dutch translations of the stories, I noticed that the translator has
added a footnote to point out that this is a mistake: it should be
Vozvrashchenie Chorba, not Soglyadatay (which was published in Paris, 1938).
This seems likely enough but I would prefer to have it confirmed. Also, is
the mistake simply copied from VN himself or is Dmitri responsible for it?
Secondly, on p. 643 "The Fight" is said to have been published earlier in
Dmitri's translation in The New Yorker of February 18, 1985. Is that date
correct? I have a hunch, on the basis of the publication history of the
other recently translated stories, that this should be 1995 instead of 1985,
but cannot be sure without your collective expertise.
Incidentally, the Dutch translations of the stories (published in two
volumes) do contain the final section of The Potato Elf missing in my early
edition (third printing).
Despite the pedantic nature of the above questions you can rest assured that
I am deriving the most mischievous delight from reading the book.
Bart Eeckhout
Research Assistant
English Department
University of Ghent
Rozier 44
B-9000 Ghent
Belgium
+32-9-264-3793 (office)
+32-9-264-4184 (fax)
+32-9-222-9592 (home)
Bart.Eeckhout@rug.ac.be (e-mail)
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~sslembro/bee.html (homepage)