I have just bought a copy of a 2008 edition of LATH edited byJavier
Aparicio Maydeu (Cátedra Letras Universales 405). In the bibliography
section the editor states (the translation is mine): under the pseudonym
Sebastian Knight, Nabokov wrote the novels The prismatic bezel, Success,
The comic (sic) mountain, Albinos in black, vaguely inspired at least in
the herós name election by Laughter in the dark, The other side of the
moon (sic again), The lost property and The strange asphodel, all of them
without complete editions, just some fragments in the inside od other
novels, like a Trojan horse. In case you can ead spanish out there the
original is:
Bajo el seudónimo de Sebastian Knight escribió las novelas caleidoscopio,
Exito, La montaña cómica, Albinos de negro, vagamente inspirada, por lo
menos en la elección onomástica del héroe en Risa en la oscuridad, La otra
faz de la luna, El bien perdido y El extraño asfódelo, de las que no
existen actualmente (currently not actually), tan sólo algunos fragmentos
en el interior de otras novelas suyas, a modo de caballo de Troya.
Now, this is a most extraordinary nabokovian joke, by an expert in the
subject, he quotes himself "Notes on alterity and autobiography in
Nabokov́s fiction" Critical Studies, 12 (1989) pp 103-119 and another
paper in spanish 2008.
If we take into the account that the title page states: 2nd Edition,
enlarged and corrected it is a pity that the 1st edition is no longer
available.
Have you ever found anything so funny in other foreign editions?
Thank you very much in advance for your kind attention, I am a nabokophile
but not a nabokovian and would appreciate any comments. Yours truly
Dr. José J. Bermúdez (Dr.J) Spain April 15