vladimir nabokov lectures on russian literature

The discussion centers on the development of characters and on the issue of the apotheosis of the Russian woman, which Nabokov inherits from Dostoevsky, as both are members of the ‘lesser tradition’ in Russian literature.

This essay focuses on probing the complexities of Dostoevsky’s influence on Nabokov through the consideration of female characters in Laughter in the Dark and Lolita. Nabokov’s afterword to Lolita, comparative analysis of Winifred Roy’s translation of Camera and Nabokov’s self-translation of Laughter, and the correspondence with the literary agent illustrate the writer’s difficulties in conveying stylistic intricacy of his fiction to this new audience. In spite of the publication of Camera Obscura in England (1936) and, as Laughter in the Dark, in the US (1938), his other works’ journeys to the Anglophone reader were strenuous. The essay documents Nabokov’s inner turmoil at the time when he began to explore the British and American literary markets. And yet, a close reading of Nabokov’s correspondence with publishers and his literary agent, Altagracia de Jannelli, reveals that this conversion was torturous and required extensive support from native speaker editors and translators. Readers of Speak, Memory are familiar with Nabokov’s insistence on his early proficiency in English, French, and Russian, and may be tempted to believe that his transition to English was easy.

Vladimir nabokov lectures on russian literature