Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov Read online

  Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov

  Literary Conversations Series

  Monika Gehlawat

  General Editor

  Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov

  Edited by Robert Golla

  University Press of Mississippi  Jackson

  www.upress.state.ms.us

  The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of American University Presses.

  Copyright © 2017 by University Press of Mississippi

  All rights reserved

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First printing 2017

  ∞

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899–1977. | Golla, Robert, editor.

  Title: Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov / edited by Robert Golla.

  Description: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2017. | Series: Literary conversations series | Includes index.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016045902 (print) | LCCN 2017004767 (ebook) | ISBN 9781496810953 (hardback) | ISBN 9781496810960 (epub single) | ISBN 9781496810977 (epub institutional) | ISBN 9781496810984 ( pdf single) | ISBN 9781496810991 (pdf institutional)

  Subjects: LCSH: Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899–1977—Interviews. | Authors, American—20th century—Interviews. | Authors, Russian—20th century—Interviews. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary. | LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General. | LITERARY CRITICISM / Russian & Former Soviet Union.

  Classification: LCC PG3476.N3 Z46 2017 (print) | LCC PG3476.N3 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54 [B]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016045902

  British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

  Books by Vladimir Nabokov

  Stikhi [Poems]. St. Petersburg: self-published, 1916.

  Al’manakh: Dva puti [Almanac: Two Paths]. With Andrei Balashov. St. Petersburg: self-published, 1918.

  Colas Breugnon. (VN, Trans.) Berlin: Slovo, 1922.

  Grozd’ [The Cluster]. Berlin: Gamaiun, 1922.

  Gornii put’ [The Empyrean Path]. Berlin: Grani, 1923.

  Alice in Wonderland. (VN, Trans) Berlin: Gamaiun, 1923.

  Mashen’ka [Mary]. Berlin: Slovo, 1926.

  Korol’ dama valet [King, Queen, Knave]. Berlin: Slovo, 1928.

  Vozvrashchenie Chorba [The Return of Chorb]. Berlin: Slovo, 1929.

  Zashchita Luzhina [The Luzhin Defense]. Berlin: Slovo, 1930.

  Podvig [Glory]. Sovremennye zapiski: Paris, 1932.

  Kamera obskura [Camera Obscura]. Sovremennye zapiski & Parabola: Paris, 1933.

  Otchaianie [Despair]. Berlin: Petropolis, 1936.

  Laughter in the Dark. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938.

  Sogliadatai [The Eye]. Berlin: Russkie zapiski, 1938.

  Priglashenie na kazn [Invitation to a Beheading]. Paris: Dom Knigi, 1938.

  The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. New York: New Directions, 1941.

  Nikolai Gogol. New York: New Directions, 1944.

  Three Russian Poets: Selections from Pushkin, Lermontov and Tyutchev. (VN, Trans.) New York: New Directions, 1945.

  Bend Sinister. New York: Henry Holt, 1947.

  Nine Stories. New York: New Directions, 1947.

  Conclusive Evidence. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1951.

  Dar [The Gift]. New York: Chekhov Publishing House, 1952.

  Stikhotvoreniia:1929–1951 [Poems: 1929–1951]. Paris: Rifma, 1952.

  Lolita. Paris: The Olympia Press, 1955.

  Vesna v Fial’te [Spring in Fialta]. New York: Chekhov Publishing House, 1956.

  Pnin. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1957.

  A Hero of Our Time. (VN and Dmitri Nabokov, Trans.) Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958.

  Nabokov’s Dozen. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958.

  Poems. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959.

  The Song of Igor’s Campaign. (VN, Trans.) New York: Vintage, 1960.

  Pale Fire. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1962.

  Notes on Prosody. New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1963.

  Eugene Onegin. (VN, Trans.) New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1964.

  The Waltz Invention. New York. Phaedra, 1966.

  Nabokov’s Quartet. New York: Phaedra, 1966.

  Speak, Memory. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967.

  Nabokov’s Congeries. New York: The Viking Press, 1968.

  Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969.

  Poems and Problems. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.

  Transparent Things. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972.

  A Russian Beauty and Other Stories. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973.

  Strong Opinions. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973.

  Lolita: A Screenplay. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.

  Look at the Harlequins!. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.

  Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.

  Details of a Sunset and Other Stories. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.

  The Nabokov-Wilson Letters: Correspondence Between Vladimir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson 1940–1971. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.

  Stikhi [Poems]. Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1979.

  Lectures on Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich / Bruccoli Clark, 1980.

  Lectures on Ulysses. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Bruccoli Clark, 1980.

  Lectures on Russian Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich / Bruccoli Clark, 1981.

  Lectures on Don Quixote. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich / Bruccoli Clark, 1983.

  The Man from the USSR and Other Plays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich / Bruccoli Clark, 1984.

  Perepiska s sestroy [Letters to His Sister]. Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1985.

  The Enchanter. New York: G.P Putnam’s Sons, 1986.

  Carrousel. Aartswoud, Netherlands: Spectatorpers, 1987.

  Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters: 1940–1977. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich / Bruccoli Clark Layman, 1989.

  Krug [The Circle]. Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaia Literatura, 1990.

  P’esy [Plays]. Moscow, Iskusstvo, 1990.

  The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

  Nabokov’s Butterflies: Unpublished and Uncollected Writings. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000.

  Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya: The Nabokov-Wilson Letters, 1940–1971. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.

  Verses and Versions: Three Centuries of Russian Poetry Selected and Translated by Vladimir Nabokov. New York: Harcourt, 2008.

  The Original of Laura. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

  Selected Poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.

  The Tragedy of Mister Morn. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2012.

  Letters to Véra. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2014.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chronology

  The Author of Lolita—an Unhurried View

  Martha MacGregor / 1958

  Author of Lolita Airs Views on Censorship, Role of Artist

  Gladys Kessler / 1958

  Vladimir Nabokov and Lionel Trilling Discuss Lolita

  Pierre Berton / 1958

  What Hath Lolita Wrought?

  Edward E. Van Dyne / 1958

  My Child Lolita

  Alan Nordstrom / 1959

  An Absence of Wood Nymphs

  Robert H. Boyle / 1959

  The Author of Lolita

  Neil Hickey / 1959

  Nabokov

  John Coleman / 1959

  Vladimir Nabokov Discusses Lolita

  Kerry Ellard / 1959

  After Lolita: A Conversation w
ith Vladimir Nabokov—with Digressions

  John G. Hayman / 1959

  The Man Who Scandalized the World

  Helen Lawrenson / 1960

  V. Nabokov Unresting

  Phyllis Meras / 1962

  Vladimir Nabokov on his Life and Work

  Peter Duval Smith / 1962

  Playboy Interview: Vladimir Nabokov

  Alvin Toffler / 1964

  On the Banks of Lake Léman: Mr. Nabokov Reflects on Lolita and Onegin

  Douglas M. Davis / 1964

  USA: The Novel—Vladimir Nabokov

  Robert Hughes / 1965

  Nabokov

  Penelope Gilliatt / 1966

  The Artist in Pursuit of Butterflies

  Herbert Gold / 1967

  An Interview with Vladimir Nabokov

  Alfred Appel Jr. / 1967

  Vladimir Nabokov: The Art of Fiction XL

  Herbert Gold / 1967

  “To be Kind, to be Proud, to be Fearless”—Vladimir Nabokov in Conversation with James Mossman

  James Mossman / 1969

  Nabokov: A Portrait

  Alfred Appel Jr. / 1971

  Understanding Vladimir Nabokov—A Red Autumn Leaf is a Red Autumn Leaf, Not a Deflowered Nymphet

  Alan Levy / 1971

  An Interview with Vladimir Nabokov

  Mati Laansoo / 1973

  Checking in with Vladimir Nabokov

  Gerald Clarke / 1975

  Vladimir Nabokov on the Loose

  Hugh A. Mulligan / 1977

  A Blush of Color—Nabokov in Montreux

  Robert Robinson / 1977

  VN—RIP

  William F. Buckley Jr. / 1977

  Index

  Introduction

  “To have another language,” Charlemagne said, “is to possess a second soul.” When contemplating the life and work of Vladimir Nabokov, who was trilingual from childhood, the quotation becomes not only poetic but suddenly very plausible. Nabokov was a Russian-American polymath. He was a translator, poet, entomologist, professor of literature, composer of chess problems, deviser of crossword puzzles, and acclaimed by critics throughout the world as one of the twentieth century’s master prose writers. In a career that spanned over six decades, he developed the luminous and enigmatic style that advanced the boundaries of modern literature more than any author since James Joyce. He produced dozens of iconic works, including Invitation to a Beheading, The Gift, Bend Sinister, Pnin, Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada. Though upon debut many regarded these novels as scandalous or pornographic, they have since become monuments in the Western canon.

  Despite the international readership that Nabokov attracted after the publication of Lolita in 1955, and which he sustained with groundbreaking works in the two decades that followed, he did not write for social utility or literary immortality. As he explained to the BBC’s Peter Duval Smith in 1962, he wrote “for the sake of the pleasure, for the sake of the difficulty. I have no social purpose, no moral message; I’ve no general ideas to exploit but I like composing riddles and I like finding elegant solutions to those riddles that I have composed myself.” During an interview in 1965 with Robert Hughes for National Educational Television, unaired and published here for the first time, Nabokov encapsulated his joy in writing as the “thrill of diabolical pleasure in discovering that you have somehow cheated creation by creating something yourself.”

  The scores of journalists who made the pilgrimage to interview Nabokov found that the extraordinarily high standard of quality he demanded of his own writing extended to any journalistic venture in which he consented to participate. He was uniquely conscious of his public image and granted interviews, with very few exceptions, on the condition that they not be extemporaneous. When asked by Robert Robinson why he had taken this approach, he answered, “The tape of my unprepared speech differs from my written prose as much as the worm differs from the perfect insect—or, as I once put it, I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.” To that end, Nabokov required interviewers to mail him a list of their questions. He would write out his answers, having altered or deleted any question that did not meet with his approval. His beloved wife Véra then typed the document in its entirety and scheduled a date when the journalist could collect the “interview” and meet with Nabokov. These meetings tended to be brief encounters, generally over drinks or dinner, where the journalist could ask for clarification or amplification of the written responses. He allowed them because they provided the semblance of spontaneity and gave color to the interview. Any follow-up enquiries or requests for modifications were conducted via mail. This elaborate ritual was how Nabokov cultivated his public image and protected his literary reputation for more than half a century.

  The twenty-eight interviews in this volume span nineteen years, from the American publication of Lolita in 1958 to Nabokov’s death in Switzerland in 1977. They have been carefully selected to represent the artistic high points in his life and were drawn from numerous print and broadcast appearances over the course of his storied career. On display is a detailed portrait of the life of Vladimir Nabokov: from his early years in Russia, captured with such haunting resonance in his autobiography, Speak, Memory, to his education at Cambridge, a meager existence as a young author in the capitals of Europe, and the decision in 1940 to emigrate to the United States which changed the entire course of his life.

  Nabokov parried questions in a number of interviews on both his early Russian-language novels and his lauded English-language works, giving particular emphasis to his formal experimentation with structure, dialogue, locale, and the integration of themes into a narrative. A fascination with the illusive nature of memory and time pervades his oeuvre, and he discoursed with considerable eloquence on the literary techniques he had developed to navigate themes often left to the sciences. He addressed the mystery of creativity and the limitations of imagination without scientific perspective. “Imagination without knowledge leads no farther than the backyard of primitive art, the child’s scrawl on the fence, and the crank’s message in the marketplace,” he told Playboy in 1964. “Art is never simple … art at its greatest is fantastically deceitful and complex.” During his years teaching literature at Wellesley and Cornell, he urged his students to bridge C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures dichotomy and equally develop “the passion of the scientist and the precision of the artist.”

  Nabokov dedicated a great amount of his time to translation and spoke with expertise to journalists about the joys and pitfalls of that unheralded art. In a 1959 interview with the CBC’s Kerry Ellard, he asserted a preference in translation for “the specific detail to the generalization, images to ideas; and obscure facts to plain symbols.” Having searched in vain for an adequate English language copy of Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin which he could use for class lectures, he set himself the task of translating the monumental Russian verse novel. His object was a perfect, literal rendering. “And to the fidelity of transposal,” he told Alvin Toffler, “I have sacrificed everything: elegance, euphony, clarity, good taste, modern usage, and even grammar.” His definitive four-volume translation, featuring extensive notes and commentary, required ten years of labor.

  The most insightful conversations in this book were conducted by Alfred Appel Jr. and Herbert Gold. Appel had attended a literature course at Cornell taught by Nabokov and was one of the earliest academic Nabokovians. He was described by Nabokov as “my pedant. A pedant straight out of Pale Fire. Every writer should have such a pedant.” Professor Appel produced a stream of scholarly articles, essays, and books, including The Annotated Lolita, which provided a line-by-line explication of Nabokov’s most famous book. In interviews conducted for Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature and The Atlantic Monthly, Appel explored the myriad literary, symbolic, and linguistic allusions in his work, with an emphasis on his use of satire and parody. Herbert Gold, the distinguished novelist who replaced Nabokov at Cornell in 1958, interviewed him for The Saturday
Evening Post and The Paris Review. He focused on Nabokov’s penchant for elaborate character development, as well as his literary influences and reading preferences.

  Nabokov’s philosophy on literature and society extend throughout the book and reveal his variegated genius. He opines on a multitude of topics, including censorship, the role of the author, the threat to art posed by authoritarian regimes, and the proper scope of critics and readers. In The Spectator profile from 1959, he denominates his audience into groups, stating, “There seem to be three levels of readership: at the bottom, those who go after ‘human interest’; in the middle, the people who want ideas, packaged thought about Life and Truth; at the top, the proper readers, who go for style.” When asked what final emotion the ideal reader should experience on concluding one of his novels, Nabokov answers, “I think that what I would welcome at the close of a book of mine is a sensation of its world receding in the distance and stopping somewhere there, suspended afar like a picture in a picture.”

  Time and again, it is that distinctive style which elevates the interviews of Vladimir Nabokov from prose to art.

  Many of the interviews in this collection have not appeared since their first publication. Several have been transcribed here for the first time. As is customary with books in the Literary Conversations Series, these interviews are published without editorial commentary, allowing readers to appraise Nabokov free from the prism of critical interpretation or conjecture. They are reprinted unaltered from the form of their initial publication. Consequently, the reader will at times encounter repetitious questions and answers, but the evolution of Nabokov’s answers, such as his estimation of his best works or dénouement preference for writing in English over his native Russian, will hopefully prove of value in their unexpurgated form to scholars and general readers alike.

  To comply with Nabokov’s preference for writers who end their introductions “with a glowing tribute to Professor Advice, Professor Encouragement, and Professor Every-Assistance,” I will conclude by noting that I was greatly aided in assembling the chronology by Professor Brian Boyd’s definitive Nabokov biographies, Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (Princeton University Press, 1990) and Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (Princeton University Press, 1991). For the bibliography, I utilized the standard reference, Michael Juliar’s Vladimir Nabokov: A Descriptive Bibliography (Garland, 1986). At the University Press of Mississippi, I relied on Series Editor Monika Gehlawat for her advice and encouragement, and Katie Keene for her editorial assistance. Thanks are also due to the journalists and permission holders who consented to have their interviews included in this book, to Professor Alexandra David for proofreading the manuscript, and to my father for his invaluable contribution.