Subject
Nabokov, James Laughlin, and Djuna Barnes
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. James Laughlin, discussed below, played an important role
in VN early American years and writes about VN in his recent memoirs.
In response to Earl Sampson's thoughts on "ranging from VN to Djuna
Barnes" and they might had in common: Andrew Field, VN's first biographer,
has alos written a biography of Ms. Barnes.
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From: Earl Sampson <esampson@cu.campus.mci.net>
Jerome Weeks of the Dallas Morning News, in a column on the book business
in 1997 (published in our local Scripps-Howard newspaper, Sunday Jan 4),
mentions the death of James Laughlin. "Maverick editor, poet and longtime
head of New Directions, Laughlin published much of the greatest of 20th
century literature - from Vladimir Nabokov to Djuna Barnes." I wonder what
VN would think of being paired with Ms. Barnes? It somehow reminds me of
the frequent juxtaposition, due to alphabetical proximity, of VN and Anais
Nin, on bookstore shelves and in book catalogs.
I don't know whether Weeks intended his formulation neutrally ("including
such luminaries as..."), or with some kind of evaluative implication ("from
this type of writer to that type"). I have read only one Barnes novel
(*Underwood*, or *Tanglewood*, or *Longwood*, or something), but based on
that admittedly limited experience, my personal subtext would be "...from
[the pinnacle of] Vladimir Nabokov [all the way down] to Djuna Barnes."
Hope I haven't offended any Barnes fans out there, but she's just not my
cup of...arsenic.
Trivia question: What else, besides appearing in New Directions, do VN and
DjB have in common?
in VN early American years and writes about VN in his recent memoirs.
In response to Earl Sampson's thoughts on "ranging from VN to Djuna
Barnes" and they might had in common: Andrew Field, VN's first biographer,
has alos written a biography of Ms. Barnes.
--------------------------------------------
From: Earl Sampson <esampson@cu.campus.mci.net>
Jerome Weeks of the Dallas Morning News, in a column on the book business
in 1997 (published in our local Scripps-Howard newspaper, Sunday Jan 4),
mentions the death of James Laughlin. "Maverick editor, poet and longtime
head of New Directions, Laughlin published much of the greatest of 20th
century literature - from Vladimir Nabokov to Djuna Barnes." I wonder what
VN would think of being paired with Ms. Barnes? It somehow reminds me of
the frequent juxtaposition, due to alphabetical proximity, of VN and Anais
Nin, on bookstore shelves and in book catalogs.
I don't know whether Weeks intended his formulation neutrally ("including
such luminaries as..."), or with some kind of evaluative implication ("from
this type of writer to that type"). I have read only one Barnes novel
(*Underwood*, or *Tanglewood*, or *Longwood*, or something), but based on
that admittedly limited experience, my personal subtext would be "...from
[the pinnacle of] Vladimir Nabokov [all the way down] to Djuna Barnes."
Hope I haven't offended any Barnes fans out there, but she's just not my
cup of...arsenic.
Trivia question: What else, besides appearing in New Directions, do VN and
DjB have in common?