Eugene Onegin the Cold War Monument: How Edmund Wilson Quarreled with Vladimir Nabokov
T Conley - Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, 2014 - newprairiepress.org
Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, 2014•newprairiepress.org
The tale of how Edmund Wilson quarreled with Vladimir Nabokov over the latter's 1964
translation of Eugene Onegin can be instructively read as a politically charged event,
specifically a “high culture” allegory of the Cold War. Dissemination of anti-Communist
ideals (often in liberal and literary guises) was the mandate of the Congress for Cultural
Freedom, whose funding and editorial initiatives included the publication of both pre-
Revolution Russian literature and, more notoriously, the journal Encounter (1953-1990) …
translation of Eugene Onegin can be instructively read as a politically charged event,
specifically a “high culture” allegory of the Cold War. Dissemination of anti-Communist
ideals (often in liberal and literary guises) was the mandate of the Congress for Cultural
Freedom, whose funding and editorial initiatives included the publication of both pre-
Revolution Russian literature and, more notoriously, the journal Encounter (1953-1990) …
Abstract
The tale of how Edmund Wilson quarreled with Vladimir Nabokov over the latter’s 1964 translation of Eugene Onegin can be instructively read as a politically charged event, specifically a “high culture” allegory of the Cold War. Dissemination of anti-Communist ideals (often in liberal and literary guises) was the mandate of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, whose funding and editorial initiatives included the publication of both pre-Revolution Russian literature and, more notoriously, the journal Encounter (1953-1990), where Nabokov’s fiery “Reply” to Wilson appeared. This essay outlines the propaganda value of the Onegin debate within and to Cold War mythology.
newprairiepress.org