Maurice Couturier: "...When I agreed to do the
Pléiade edition of the novels, I made it a condition that I would do a new
translation of "Lolita" ...Gallimard refused to finance other new
translations; that's how most of the Russian novels were published in the
earlier translations from the English versions. A great pity, of course. The
translations were revised, sometimes in depth, but that was not enough. For
volume III, I will personally revise all the translations. "Ada" raises a
different problem: Nabokov worked hard on the French translation; I can hardly
revise his revisions. I will write variants instead in the annotations. I take
this opportunity to mention that many books were published in France on Nabokov
in the last twelve months (partly as a result of "Lolita" being on the syllabus
of the national CAPES and Agrégation). I attach the bibliography of my new book,
"Nabokov, ou la tentation française", which ought to come out later this year;
it lists all those books."
JM: A very impressive (tempting) bibliography inside an equally
tempting container: "Nabokov, ou la tentation française."
I surmised*
that Nabokov was as proficient in French as he was in English. Maurice
Couturier's message corrects my superficial assumption because he states
that he "cannot revise Nabokov's revisions" and "will write variants instead in
the annotations." This opportunity to read the original translation,
revisions and M.Couturier's notes will shed new lights on translation and
on the incessant movements of a living language...
......................................................................................
* Nabokov's parents favored communication in French at home at
certain occasions and there are echoes of it in "Ada";
Nabokov's Swiss "Mademoiselle" read French classics and poetry to her
pupils; Nabokov studied French at Cambridge (but he made wry comments about
French at the American universities in "Pnin"), etc.