Below, Vladimir Nabokov writes to Jason Epstein with his notes on the proposed cover for his novel, Pnin. At the time, Epstein had just founded Anchor, as an imprint of Doubleday. Ultimately, Doubleday would not publish Lolita, as one of the company’s chief officers was so offended by its subject matter that he refused to even glance at the text.
October 1, 1956, Ithica
Dear Mr. Epstein,
I have just received the sketches. They are executed with talent, the picture as art goes is first-rate, but in regard to my Pnin it is wrong: The sketch looks like the portrait of an underpaid instructor in the English department or like a Republican’s notion of a defeated Adlai, when actually he should look like a Russian muzhik clean-shaven. I am sending you some photographs of Pnin-like Russians, with and without hair, for a visual appreciation of the items I am going to discuss.
1. The head should look quite bald, without any dark margin, and must be ampler, rounder, smoother, more dome-like. Note Zhavoronkov and Yegorov for the type of head, which however should be bigger in Pnin’s case, not egg-shaped. Maslov would be perfect, minus hair.
2. The glasses should be definitely tortoise-shell ones, with heavier, somewhat squarish frames.
3. The nose is very important. It should be the Russian potato nose, fat and broad, with prominent nostril curves. See Zhukovski for nostrils, and Obrastsov for a replica of Pnin’s fat glossy organ; but Pavlov and Maslov are also good.
4. The terribly important space between nose and upper lip. This must be simian, large, long, and a central hollow and lateral furrows. See Zhavoronkov, Baykov, Yegorov, Zhukovski. The latter’s lips are very Pninian. Pnin’s bad teeth should not show.
5. The cheeks and jowls. Jowls and jaw should be large, broad, massive. See Baykov, Zhavoronkov, Yegorov.
6. The shoulders should be very broad, square, padded. Pnin wears a ready-made American suit of four years age.
7. The tie should be a flamboyant one.
Now, instead of all this, the sketches show a puny professor Milksop, with an egg-shaped face, flat nose, short upper lip, non-descript chin, sloping shoulders, and the necktie of a comedy bookkeeper. I have noticed long ago that for some reason illustrators do not read the books they illustrate. In my book, all the details listed above are mentioned in the first chapter, and repeated further on.
The lettering, title and name, is very handsome in both sketches. The larger one is perhaps more pleasing.
Splendid idea to have Pnin hold a book. The title on the book he holds should read
пнин
в. нAбоков [i]
I shall certainly not make any arrangements for LOLITA in this country before discussing them with you. Everything you have done for LOLITA until now delights me. I hope you will publish the thing in its entirety some day.
I approve in advance whatever selection you make for the Anchor Review. It might be difficult for me to help there since in my mind I see the book as a whole.
We shall arrive in New York on Monday, the 15th, in the evening, and would like to see you on the 16th (any time is convenient) or on the 17th (evening only). We shall leave early on the 18th. It would be helpful if you could let me know now what is your preference, for I would like to plan the rest of my stay.
Yes, I have Fred Dupee, though not in the Partisan Review, but years ago on the little peak in Darien.
The signed agreements must have reached you by now.
Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Nabokov
+
FOOTNOTES
[i] In English: “Pnin/V. Nabokov”
+
FURTHER READING
For the final cover (faithful to Nabokov’s instructions), click here.