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Nabokov's first contribution to The New Yorker was "Literary Dinner," a poem that appeared on April 11, 1942. It was followed in June by a poem, "The Refrigerator Awakes," composed over the 1941 Thanksgiving holiday, spent at the Wellfleet home of Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy. Over the next few decades, the magazine would prove Nabokov's most reliable source of income, as well as a high-profile forum through which he achieved most of his pre-Lolita popularity. Katharine White became his editor and contact at the magazine. Soon thereafter, she became a champion of his work - though not an unconditional one - and a good friend. In 1944, when Wilson contacted her about Nabokov's financial straits, she secured for him a $500 advance against future contributions, and won for the magazine a first-reading agreement that remained in effect until his death. A perusal of Nabokov's letters suggests that The New Yorker, though in retrospect something of a blessing, was the source of some irritation. He made clear with the publication of his first story between its covers - "Double Talk" in 1945 - that he would appreciate an editor who would call to his attention grammatical blunders, but that edits to style or content were unacceptable. Nevertheless, the proofs of future stories - "Signs and Symbols" in 1947 and eight chapters of his memoir published from 1947 to 1949 - bear evidence of zealous reading on the part of the editors. That three chapters of his memoir and two of Pnin were flat-out rejected by the magazine seems to have had very little impact on Nabokov's relationship with White, and he successfully resubmitted "The Vane Sisters" eight years after its initial rejection, and a revised poem, "Longwood Glen," two years after The New Yorker had first passed on it. After Katharine White stepped down from the editorial ranks at The New Yorker in the fall of 1955, Nabokov's official contact was William Maxwell, with whom he developed a cordial relationship. But he also maintained his personal and professional ties to White, with whom he had been more intimate and who continued her association with the magazine, now as a consulting editor. He showed her the completed manuscript of Lolita per his first-reading agreement with the magazine, but he knew from the start that none of it could appear between The New Yorker's covers. That impossibility turned out to be of little moment. Pnin and, to a large extent, Conclusive Evidence had already enjoyed serial success in the pages of The New Yorker. By the time Lolita came into its own in the United States, Nabokov had written his last fiction designed for periodical publication, and was able to devote increasing amounts of time to more substantial works, such as Pale Fire and Ada. But his relationship with The New Yorker was far from over. In 1963 and 1964, the magazine agreed to print several of his Russian stories in translation, excerpts from The Gift, and The Defense in its entirety over the course of two issues - the first such occurrence in the history of that magazine - for an unheard-of $10,400.
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov Katharine White Brendan Gill Vladimir Nabokov E. B. White William Maxwell William Maxwell Katharine White Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov |
Russia
1899-1919 | Europe 1919-1939
| U.S. 1940-1960 | Switzerland
1960-1977
TOC | Introduction
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Nabokov Under Glass | Suggested Reading
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