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Re: Query: Nabokov and Isaac Babel
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stanislaw milkowsky wrote:
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (23 lines) ------------------
> A lucky possessor of a copy of the newest edition of the Nabokov-Wilson
> Correspondence, I am quoting here what seems to be the only reference to
> Isaac Babel in the book:
>
> "Thanks for suggesting me to the publisher of Russian stories. From the
> literary material produced during 25 years of the Soviet rule I could select
> about a dozen readable shorts (Zoshchenko, Kaverin, Babel, Olesha, Prishvin,
> Zamiatin, Leonov - 'i obch'olsia'). I think that my main grudge against the
> good old Soviets is that they produce such execrable literature, but, as I
> say, with a little tact I could choose a few eatable plums out of the rot -
> although I shall feel like a beggar rummaging in a garbage can." P. 132-133.
>
> Pretty strong stuff. Funny that Zamiatin is still regarded as a Soviet
> writer here.
>
> Anything else?
>
> SM
>
> __
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (23 lines) ------------------
> A lucky possessor of a copy of the newest edition of the Nabokov-Wilson
> Correspondence, I am quoting here what seems to be the only reference to
> Isaac Babel in the book:
>
> "Thanks for suggesting me to the publisher of Russian stories. From the
> literary material produced during 25 years of the Soviet rule I could select
> about a dozen readable shorts (Zoshchenko, Kaverin, Babel, Olesha, Prishvin,
> Zamiatin, Leonov - 'i obch'olsia'). I think that my main grudge against the
> good old Soviets is that they produce such execrable literature, but, as I
> say, with a little tact I could choose a few eatable plums out of the rot -
> although I shall feel like a beggar rummaging in a garbage can." P. 132-133.
>
> Pretty strong stuff. Funny that Zamiatin is still regarded as a Soviet
> writer here.
>
> Anything else?
>
> SM
>
> __