The feud : Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the end of a beautiful friendship / Alex Beam.

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    • Publication Information:
      First edition.
    • Abstract:
      Summary: "The Feud is the ... tale of how two literary giants destroyed their friendship in a fit of mutual pique and egomania. In 1940, Edmund Wilson was the undisputed big dog of American letters. Vladimir Nabokov was a near-penniless Russian exile seeking asylum in the States. Wilson became a mentor to Nabokov, introducing him to every editor of note, assigning him book reviews for The New Republic, engineering a Guggenheim Fellowship. Their intimate friendship blossomed over a shared interest in all things Russian, ruffled a bit by political disagreements. But then came the worldwide best-selling novel Lolita, and the tables were turned. Suddenly Nabokov was the big (and very rich) dog. The feud finally erupted in full when Nabokov published his hugely footnoted and virtually unreadable literal translation of Pushkin's famously untranslatable verse novel, Eugene Onegin. Wilson attacked his friend's translation with hammer and tongs in The New York Review of Books. Nabokov counterattacked. Back and forth the increasingly aggressive letters flew, until the narcissism of small differences reduced their friendship to ashes...."--Front flap of jacket.
    • Content Notes:
      The beginning -- Such good friends -- Sex doesn't sell ... or does it? -- Whose mother is Russia anyway? -- Meet Eugene Onegin -- What hath Nabokov wrought? -- "He is a very old friend of mine" -- We are all Pushkinists now -- Until death do us part -- Just kidding? -- Why? -- As I was saying ....
    • Notes:
      Includes bibliographical references and index.
      1 5
    • Other Titles:
      Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the end of a beautiful friendship.
    • ISBN:
      9781101870228 :
    • Accession Number:
      2016007056
    • Accession Number:
      944933725
    • Accession Number:
      ccp.1001515