Waugh wounds
Sir: Whether as the result of a printers' imp, or through some Sporting attempt at improvement on your own part, eight mutilations of the text made my review of Nabokov's Mary completely unin- telligible.
Most are too boring to list, but, for the record, I was referring to Mr Nabokov's allegedly first novel, not his poor novel nor even his prior novel, when I suggested that he was trying to make a fool (not a tool) of the small academic world he inhabits. I never supposed that the book might concede coded in- structions for a game of ping-pong, but I wondered whether it might conceal them.
It doesn't matter, of course, but in case anybody is interested, I did not think that Mary was poor or prior at all; in fact, I thought it jolly good.
In answer to Mr P. Norman's -kind inquiry, I am not aware of any jealous feelings towards Mr Hunter Davies, although his wife seems attractive and highly intelligent. Au heron Waugh The Old Rectory, Chilton Foliat, Hungerford, Berkshire
Previous page
