3 ms·

You do realize his work was edited? Even aspiring writers seem to not understand how substantial changes a manuscript undergoes prior to publishing.

tomcam 8y ago
Fantastic point. I’ve been hired to do some serious editing myself but that never crossed my mind. Which means I now need to see if they’ve published any early manuscripts...
cafard 8y ago
That varies greatly by author, doesn't it? I know nothing about the publishing history of Nabokov's work--do you know that others edited it? Certainly a lot of authors have extensively re-written their own work in galleys--if you poke around, you can see photographs of some of Proust's editing of his own work.
- erikbye 8y ago
  It varies, but in general, most novels undergo extensive edits, genius writer or not. E.g. Maxwell Perkins cut 60,000 words from Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Homeward, Angel.” As for Nabokov, he had, like many other famous authors, a contentious relationship with editors. > By “editor” I suppose you mean proofreader. Among these I have known limpid creatures of limitless tact and tenderness who would discuss with me a semicolon as if it were a point of honor—which, indeed, a point of art often is. But I have also come across a few pompous avuncular brutes who would attempt to “make suggestions” which I countered with a thunderous “stet!” It seems his wife did a lot of editing: > Nabokov wrote Lolita while travelling on butterfly-collection trips in the western United States that he undertook every summer. Véra acted as "secretary, typist, editor, proofreader, translator and bibliographer; his agent, business manager, legal counsel and chauffeur; his research assistant, teaching assistant and professorial understudy"; when Nabokov attempted to burn unfinished drafts of Lolita, Véra stopped him. He called her the best-humored woman he had ever known.” What work was further done at the various publishing houses I don’t know, but the first edition, published by Olympia, was “riddled with typos,” which would indicate little additional editing was done for this edition. The typos were corrected for the American publication.

tomcam 8y ago

Fantastic point. I’ve been hired to do some serious editing myself but that never crossed my mind. Which means I now need to see if they’ve published any early manuscripts...

cafard 8y ago

That varies greatly by author, doesn't it? I know nothing about the publishing history of Nabokov's work--do you know that others edited it? Certainly a lot of authors have extensively re-written their own work in galleys--if you poke around, you can see photographs of some of Proust's editing of his own work.

erikbye 8y ago
It varies, but in general, most novels undergo extensive edits, genius writer or not. E.g. Maxwell Perkins cut 60,000 words from Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Homeward, Angel.” As for Nabokov, he had, like many other famous authors, a contentious relationship with editors. > By “editor” I suppose you mean proofreader. Among these I have known limpid creatures of limitless tact and tenderness who would discuss with me a semicolon as if it were a point of honor—which, indeed, a point of art often is. But I have also come across a few pompous avuncular brutes who would attempt to “make suggestions” which I countered with a thunderous “stet!” It seems his wife did a lot of editing: > Nabokov wrote Lolita while travelling on butterfly-collection trips in the western United States that he undertook every summer. Véra acted as "secretary, typist, editor, proofreader, translator and bibliographer; his agent, business manager, legal counsel and chauffeur; his research assistant, teaching assistant and professorial understudy"; when Nabokov attempted to burn unfinished drafts of Lolita, Véra stopped him. He called her the best-humored woman he had ever known.” What work was further done at the various publishing houses I don’t know, but the first edition, published by Olympia, was “riddled with typos,” which would indicate little additional editing was done for this edition. The typos were corrected for the American publication.