Subject
Lolita Paperback Covers
From
Date
Body
Paul Maliszewski did a very nice illustrated essay on VN covers in
McSWEENEY'S QUARTERLY some years ago.
Don Johnson
EDNOTE FROM SES. Since that issue of McSweeney's is quite rare, Zoran
Kuzmanovich's eloquent description of the essay (from the NABOKV-L
Archives, September 2000) seems worth repeating here:
McSweeney's Quarterly, issue #4, Late Winter 2000, includes a special
foldout "Paperback Nabokov" by Paul Maliszewski. The subtitle to the
essay
is "OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV AND HIS MANY PAPERBACK BOOKS; ABOUT HIS SEARCH
FOR
FINE COVER ART AND THE MYRIAD OBSTACLES STREWN IN HIS PATH; SETTING OUT
TO
UNDERSTAND BOTH WHAT HE WANTED, EXACTLY, AND WHAT HE MOSTLY GOT;
INCLUDING
DETAILS ABOUT DESIGNS HE JUDGED LESS THAN SATISFACTORY; FEATURING THE
WORDS
AND WORK OF ARTISTS IN POSITION TO KNOW; CONTAINING REFERENCE TO BOTH
EDMUND
WILSON AND MICKEY SPILLANE; DEFINING TERMINOLOGY SUCH AS 'POSHLOST' AND
'CLINCH SCENE'; USING THE WORD 'HOMUNCULUS' BUT ONCE; AN ESSAY,
FASCINATED
BY MAIL, ESPECIALLY FROM MONTREAUX, AND ALL TRUE BESIDES, WITH PHOTOS
IN
COLOR."
The essay is worthwhile, but the real riches (for those of us who do
not
have Juliar's library but work with Nabokov and the visual) lie in the
40
miniature images used to grace (or desecrate) the covers of VN's books
that
made it as paperbacks. A special bonus is Barbara Bloom's clever cover
for
the foldout. As if she were complying with Gene B.'s long term desire
for
a
VN postage stamp, Ms. Bloom has designed a cover sheet consisting of 15
stamps, each featuring cover art used for various paperback editions of
Lolita. The editors included the information that the foldout was
"published under a warm downy wing of McSweeney's Quarterly."
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu,chtodel@cox.net
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
McSWEENEY'S QUARTERLY some years ago.
Don Johnson
EDNOTE FROM SES. Since that issue of McSweeney's is quite rare, Zoran
Kuzmanovich's eloquent description of the essay (from the NABOKV-L
Archives, September 2000) seems worth repeating here:
McSweeney's Quarterly, issue #4, Late Winter 2000, includes a special
foldout "Paperback Nabokov" by Paul Maliszewski. The subtitle to the
essay
is "OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV AND HIS MANY PAPERBACK BOOKS; ABOUT HIS SEARCH
FOR
FINE COVER ART AND THE MYRIAD OBSTACLES STREWN IN HIS PATH; SETTING OUT
TO
UNDERSTAND BOTH WHAT HE WANTED, EXACTLY, AND WHAT HE MOSTLY GOT;
INCLUDING
DETAILS ABOUT DESIGNS HE JUDGED LESS THAN SATISFACTORY; FEATURING THE
WORDS
AND WORK OF ARTISTS IN POSITION TO KNOW; CONTAINING REFERENCE TO BOTH
EDMUND
WILSON AND MICKEY SPILLANE; DEFINING TERMINOLOGY SUCH AS 'POSHLOST' AND
'CLINCH SCENE'; USING THE WORD 'HOMUNCULUS' BUT ONCE; AN ESSAY,
FASCINATED
BY MAIL, ESPECIALLY FROM MONTREAUX, AND ALL TRUE BESIDES, WITH PHOTOS
IN
COLOR."
The essay is worthwhile, but the real riches (for those of us who do
not
have Juliar's library but work with Nabokov and the visual) lie in the
40
miniature images used to grace (or desecrate) the covers of VN's books
that
made it as paperbacks. A special bonus is Barbara Bloom's clever cover
for
the foldout. As if she were complying with Gene B.'s long term desire
for
a
VN postage stamp, Ms. Bloom has designed a cover sheet consisting of 15
stamps, each featuring cover art used for various paperback editions of
Lolita. The editors included the information that the foldout was
"published under a warm downy wing of McSweeney's Quarterly."
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu,chtodel@cox.net
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm