Vladimir Nabokov"s rise from impoverished World War II refugee to literary giant is vividly documented in this volume of more than 400 letters. Although he had published a substantial body of emigre work in Russian, Nabokov was virtually unknown in America on his arrival in 1940, and it wasn"t until 1958, with the U.S. publication of Lolita, that he was able to devote himself full time to his later masterpieces, including Pale Fire and Ada.
The letters trace Nabokov"s struggles with publishers and editors to preserve his artistic integrity and to achieve a readership for his work and constitute a repository for the master"s convictions about literature, other writers, and artistic and personal freedom. The book crackles with Nabokov"s intelligence and wit, whether applied to exaltations of true art, denunciations of false art, or even the composition of an unsolicited jingle for a shaving cream company (which declined his effort).
With footnotes by Nabokov"s widow, Vera, and an eloquent introduction by their son, Dmitri, Selected Letters "holds many glints of pure verbal gold, sprinkled in spendthrift fashion by a wonderfully vivacious and poetic mind".
(The New Yorker) Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977 (Vladimir Nabokov)