Subject
Re: "The Potato Elf" Mystery (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR'S NOTE. VN misrembered the composition date of "The Potato Elf" in
his introductory comments in the McGraw-Hill _A Russian Beauty_. (Boyd I,
229-30) reports it was written in April 1924. Juliar's bibliography shows
that it was serialized twice: once in the Baltic emigre paper _Russko
ekho_ (20 April 1924ff) and later in the Berlin _Rul_. Boyd, incidentally,
marks it as "One of Nabokov's poorer stories" (230).
--------------------------------------------
I have always been puzzled by "The Potato Elf" - its English setting, its
more-than-usually cruel Nora, and most of all by its date. VN puts it at
1929, in the editions of 'RUL' which appeared on December 15-19. Others
have put it much earlier. But would a *young* writer produce such a harsh
tale? Maybe ...
However, VN's editorial note to the story may cast light on
the latest puzzle. After giving the dates I have just quoted,
he adds "A very different English version (by Serge Bertenson
and Irene Kosinska) full of mistakes and omissions, appeared
in ESQUIRE, December 1939, and has been reprinted in an
anthology (THE SINGLE VOICE, Collier, London, 1969).
Could this be the culprit?
--
Dr Roy Johnson | Roy@mantex.demon.co.uk
PO Box 100 | Tel +44 0161 432 5811
Manchester UK | Fax +44 0161 443 2766
his introductory comments in the McGraw-Hill _A Russian Beauty_. (Boyd I,
229-30) reports it was written in April 1924. Juliar's bibliography shows
that it was serialized twice: once in the Baltic emigre paper _Russko
ekho_ (20 April 1924ff) and later in the Berlin _Rul_. Boyd, incidentally,
marks it as "One of Nabokov's poorer stories" (230).
--------------------------------------------
I have always been puzzled by "The Potato Elf" - its English setting, its
more-than-usually cruel Nora, and most of all by its date. VN puts it at
1929, in the editions of 'RUL' which appeared on December 15-19. Others
have put it much earlier. But would a *young* writer produce such a harsh
tale? Maybe ...
However, VN's editorial note to the story may cast light on
the latest puzzle. After giving the dates I have just quoted,
he adds "A very different English version (by Serge Bertenson
and Irene Kosinska) full of mistakes and omissions, appeared
in ESQUIRE, December 1939, and has been reprinted in an
anthology (THE SINGLE VOICE, Collier, London, 1969).
Could this be the culprit?
--
Dr Roy Johnson | Roy@mantex.demon.co.uk
PO Box 100 | Tel +44 0161 432 5811
Manchester UK | Fax +44 0161 443 2766