Bearing back, ceaselessly, with a new set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Lectures on Russian Literature, a compilation of lectures on Russian literature, focusing on six writers. The lectures were edited for publication by Fredson Bowers and copublished in 1981 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and Bruccoli Clark. The book has gone through four other editions. It is A53 in the 1986 bibliography.
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Not so dramatically moving along with the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Собрание сочинений: III [Sobranie sochineniĭ: III / Collected works: III] was the third volume in a projected set of Nabokov’s complete Russian works that Ardis began issuing in 1988 or 1989. This volume is an A-item because it included Волшебник [Volshebnik / The enchanter], its first book appearance in its original Russian form. It also included a translation into Russian of Nabokov’s English foreword to The Eye, the novel Соглядатай [Sogliadataĭ / The eye], and a dozen stories. The Enchanter had been previously published in Dmitri Nabokov’s English translation in 1986. The volume did not appear in the 1986 bibliography.
Tags: novel, Russian, Russian editions
Gliding along to the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Отчаяние [Otchaianie / Despair] was Nabokov’s seventh novel in Russian. He wrote it in 1932 but it wasn’t published as a book until 1936 by Petropolis in Berlin. It had been serialized in Современные записки [Sovremennye zapiski / Contemporary annals], in Feb–Oct 1934 (issues 44–46). Nabokov translated it into English twice, first for the John Long imprint of Hutchinson in London in 1937 and then for Putnam’s in 1966 in New York. It is A15 in the 1986 bibliography.
Making headway with the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Подвиг [Podvig / Glory] was Nabokov’s fifth novel in Russian. He wrote it in 1930 and the book was published in book form towards the end of 1932 by Sovremennye Zapiski. Excerpts had previously appeared eight times in various émigré newspapers in 1931 and 1932 and in its entirety in the literary journal Современные записки [Sovremennye zapiski / Contemporary annals] in 1931. The English translation, Glory, was the last of his novels that Nabokov translated. He said that the Russian title, “Podvig”, translates literally as “gallant feat” or “high deed”. But for the English language version, he preferred the evocative “Glory”. It was published by McGraw-Hill in 1971. It is A13 in the 1986 bibliography.
Making further headway with the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Горній путь [Gorniĭ put’ / The empyrean path] is a collection of 152 poems published by Grani in Berlin in January 1923. It is A6 in the 1986 bibliography.
Progressing with the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Приглашение на казнь [[Priglashenie na kazn’/Invitation to a Beheading]] was Nabokov’s penultimate novel in Russian. He temporarily dropped work on Dar and began writing Priglashenie na kazn’ in Berlin in June 1934. He worked very quickly, finishing it by the end of the year. It was serialized in Sovremennye Zapiski from June 1935 to March 1936 (Nos. 58–60) and published in book form by Dom Knigi in Paris in November 1938. The English translation, Invitation to a Beheading, was published by Putnam’s in 1959. It is A16 in the 1986 bibliography.
Bloomsbury Auctions in London has 21 lots of Nabokov books (many inscribed) and a lot of 30 letters coming up for sale on 27 November. Go to bloomsburyauctions.com and click on the “Important Books & Manuscripts” auction. The Nabokov lots are #133–154. (Or click here to go directly to the catalog page where the Nabokov lots begin.)
The estimated prices are accurate. The conditions of some of the books are, from the fastidious collector’s point of view, not very good. Many copies are not in their original bindings. But there are many desirable pieces. I think that the most delightfully desirable is lot #148, Stikhotvoreniia [Poems] 1929–1951 (A27.1 in my bibliography), published in Paris by Rifma in 1952. The book itself contains 16 Russian poems in a compact 48 pages. The real attraction is the quickly sketched flutter of eight giddy butterflies over Nabokov’s inscription to Jacob Frumkin. Take a look.
Tags: auction, Bloomsbury, inscriptions, Russian
And so to the next set of draft pages for the revised and updated bibliography: Стихи (1979) [Stikhi / Poems], his second such-titled book (the first being A2 from 1916). This collection of 250 poems and poem fragments were selected by Nabokov shortly before he died, but published posthumously in 1979 by Ardis. In the foreword Véra Nabokov gives information about the selection of the poems and points to Nabokov’s main theme of ‘other-worldliness [потусторонности]’. This Stikhi was A50 in the 1986 bibliography.
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