Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016336, Mon, 5 May 2008 12:17:46 -0400

Subject
SIGNS: Clarification on "beach plum"
From
Date
Body
Jerry Friedman responds to Sandy Drescher:

-- On Fri, 5/2/08, Alexander Drescher <alexander@MUSICWOODSFARM.COM> wrote:

[I wrote]

> > On another point, what's the story with
> "beech plum"? Alexander
> > Dolinin says all editions have "beech", but
> Sandy Drescher says
> > (also at Zembla) that the /New Yorker/ had the
> "correct" beach.
> > Which account is right? And if Nabokov had meant the
> spelling
> > error (which as Sandy Drescher said is consistent with
> "spelled
> > out"), would he really not have included a note
> directing the
> > magazine not to correct it?
> >
> > Was beach-plum jelly really available in the U.S. in
> those days?
>
> Yes, according to the Beechnut Company archives.

"Beechnut"--that's odd.

> Gerber made only baby foods.

Why do you mention Gerber?

> VN was not able to "direct" his editors. [See J.
> Morris, "Signs and
> Symbols and Signs" The Nabokovian, 32: [Spring] 1994,
> pp. 24-28.] In
> addition to the title and "beach" other
> "corrections" by the New
> Yorker were consolidating two paragraphs in Part 3 and
> omitting the Arabic numeral headings.

Maybe I was unclear. I would think that if an author wanted
to misspell a word in the narration, he would include a note
to the editors not to "correct" it. I wonder whether Nabokov
tried that but was ignored, or whether he didn't try. I
doubt he'd think to ask them not to change the title or
combine two paragraphs.

> The New Yorker, May 15, 1948 p33. "Symbols and
> Signs":

Thank you for the image! It's good to get that cleared up.

Jerry Friedman

Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en

Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm