translator question

[Ines Garcia de la Puente]

Jane Grayson in Nabokov Translated (1977) mentions Roy's translation a few times. Grayson does not say anything about Nabokov taking advantage of Roy's work; moreover, Grayson's list of Nabokov's translations cites Camera Obscura as Roy's translation (1936) and Laughter in the Dark as "revised by the author" (1938) - so, at least as far as the credits in the book go, there is no suggestion of Nabokov re-translating, but just revising Roy's translation.
Your student is probably familiar with Grayson's work, but maybe checking her biography may give some hints? There is a reference to  'An Interview with Vladimir Nabokov', conducted by Appel, 1967, where he expresses his dissatisfaction with Roy's work, that could eventually be of use?

Best regards,
 
Inés García de la Puente



________________________________
 From: "Valentino, Russell" <russell-valentino at UIOWA.EDU>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 6:03:10 PM
Subject: [SEELANGS] translator question
 

 
A graduate student at Berkeley just sent me this question, and I don’t know the answer. Does anyone on this list?
 
Thanks.
 
Russell
 
 
“Do you have any information about a Nabokov translator named Winifred Roy? She translated Camera Obscura into English, it was published in 1936 by John Long in London. Nabokov is on the record saying that he despised her translation, and later he rewrote/retranslated it as "Laughter in the Dark" using a great deal of her prose but erasing her name entirely.  Other than this there is very little known about her. Any info or names of good potential resources for this kind of research would be helpful.”
 
 
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