StillILearn
New Member
You don't suspect this story of being apocryphal?
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Vladimir Nabokov: Look at the Harlequins!
- Thread starter Gem
- Start date
You don't suspect this story of being apocryphal?
Peder
Well-Known Member
Aww SIL,StillILearn said:
It is you who are the soul of gentleness and politeness here.
As Nabokov definitely was not, when he was putting down Dostoevsky at every turn. He had very pronounced likes and dislikes and did not think much of many of the most famous named authors who preceded him. And even had one of his characters refer to one "Dobroshevsky"
ROTFLBut since you raise the question, let me offer what I see that someone might take away from Nabokov as a model for writing, and it is going to sound like something you have already heard I am sure. His and other authors' approach to getting it all in their head before they put anything on paper, sounds to me like two steps: See it! Write it! In implementation I would say that one has to do that in one's own words, irrespective of how the other guy did it, even if he was Nabokov, and irrespective of how different your words come out sounding. I also notice that the parts of Nabokov, or any author for that matter, that affect me the most, and speak most directly to me, are the parts that are written straight from the heart. I've seen you do that, with your magnificent post(s), so I know you have a heart and, in the other sense of the word, you have heart.
And then, in a masterpiece of understatement, I am inclined to add that punctuation, syntax and all the rest, come from practice, practice, and more practice, as with any skill. Any skill! From bike riding on up to what I understand is the most terrifying of all for large numbers of people: public speaking in front of a large audience.
So, take heart,
Be of good cheer,
Go do it,
Peder
BTW If you can see what you don't like in what you write, I have to believe that is because you can also see how it is you would like it to be. Which is the first step in getting it to be like you want it. If you know which way is down, you must have an idea which way is up, if you but describe it to your self. I know, I know! Easier said than done. But how else?
P
BTW BTW As far a Nabokov never putting a word wrong, that was in the final product, over which even his manuscripts show he struggled quite a bit to get that way. Where's that quote?
P.
Peder
Well-Known Member
No, I don't really, because it comes from a near-primary source as I recall. Stacy Shiff, Vera? I give it the benefit of the doubt also because it was far from a foregone conclusion that Lolita ever could be published. Coupled with the time it was taking -- he referred to it as a difficult delivery, or words to that effect, as I recall -- I can imagine a low point in his emotions about it.StillILearn said:
pontalba
Well-Known Member
The almost destruction of Lolita was at least in Vera, but I saw it recently as well.....where? Hmmm.....well somewhere. 
Maybe in Boyd's bio.
And SIL, Nabokov himself said that he'd scratched out every word at least five times and that his pencils outlasted his erasers by a long shot.
Something else interesting was that he did not write in a linear fashion. He wrote mostly in 'scenes' or sections, and then later put them together, hence the 3x5 cards. Easier to shuffle. Although he did change his method from the cards at some point.
Maybe in Boyd's bio.And SIL, Nabokov himself said that he'd scratched out every word at least five times and that his pencils outlasted his erasers by a long shot.
Something else interesting was that he did not write in a linear fashion. He wrote mostly in 'scenes' or sections, and then later put them together, hence the 3x5 cards. Easier to shuffle. Although he did change his method from the cards at some point.
StillILearn
New Member
... and he also had his Vera!
Okay, thanks guys, I'm feeling better already. (Still, putting the exacto knife away ...)
Okay, thanks guys, I'm feeling better already.
(Still, putting the exacto knife away ...)
StillILearn
New Member
pontalba said:
I'm laughing, pontalba! I do have strong opinions, but I don't own that particular book. I do have Speak, Memory, but not Strong Opinions -- not yet.
I utterly shudder to think of our feisty little Lo ending up in the backyard incinerator unrevealed, unreviled and unread.
On another note, can you imagine what VN could have done with a word processor?
(Still, fainting dead away in awe of the thought.) Although I have to admit that really do love this:
It really demonstrates the process, don't you think?
StillILearn
New Member
pontalba! You're reading Proust and Nabokov at the same time? What're you trying to do, sprain your brain?
I'm reading Carole Nelson Douglas (the female A. C. Doyle) to give my own brain a break.
I'm reading Carole Nelson Douglas (the female A. C. Doyle) to give my own brain a break.
StillILearn
New Member
Oh, mercy -- Peder's doing it too.
pontalba
Well-Known Member
LOL SILStillILearn said:pontalba! You're reading Proust and Nabokov at the same time? What're you trying to do, sprain your brain?
I'm reading Carole Nelson Douglas (the female A. C. Doyle) to give my own brain a break.
Actually I have the last Kathy Reich's on order to give the little gray cells a bit of a rest. But to tell the truth, I haven't read her last yet, its sitting on the shelf neglected, lately I haven't been able to get into anything besides Nabokov, and a little Proust on the side.
Peder
Well-Known Member
Or not doing it, as the case may be.StillILearn said:
Had to let Proust slide to finish Speak, Memory. Could not do them both at the same time, because I kept thinking of Nabokov whichever one I was reading. Some of the scenes, phrasings, styles are eerily familiar (to use the time-worn phrase). And when one notices the layering, all the Nabokovian flags go straight up to full mast and the Baker Street Irregulars immediately spring to attention and start re-reading furiously, saying "Look at this! ... And this!! ..... And this/gasp/!!!" The din gets overwhelming, even if Proust is really very different and definitely magical in his own way. I have often said I like slow novels. Well, I have put my self-challenge to the test!
But I feel your pain
and I am looking longingly at some of the lighter reading I have accumulated recently. We'll see how long before I break down. Peder
StillILearn
New Member
I really want to know:
1. What constitutes "light reading" to you, Peder? and
2. WHO THE BLAZES ARE THESE 'BAKER STREET IRREGULARS'?
1. What constitutes "light reading" to you, Peder? and
2. WHO THE BLAZES ARE THESE 'BAKER STREET IRREGULARS'?
Peder
Well-Known Member
Well, Gem, SIL,Gem said:I'm guessing Finnegans Wake & The Sound & the Fury
Good guess, but not too close.
Actuall did 2 pages of Finnegan's Wake many years ago and put it aside. Actually have The Sound and the Fury as part of my self-project to read something by Faulkner. Have read two pages there also and it awaits some calmer more appropriate time to resume.
No. All work and no play makes a dull boy!
My light reading here at my left inncludes:
The Man in the High Castle - P.K. Dick
Blade Runner - P.K.Dick
Sundiver - David Brin
Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson (plus Green and Blue to go)
The Years of Rice and Salt - K.S. Robinson (and others await)
The Book of Spies - Alan Furst (Editor)
London Bridges - James Patterson
Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
Shadow of the Wind - Zafon
A Plea of Insanity - Priscilla Masters
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
The Spiral Staircase - Karen Armstrong
New York Trilogy - Paul Auster
I Know This Much is True - Wally Lamb
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
The Orientalist - Tom Reiss
The Snow Fox - Stephanie Harrison
Hell's Angels - Hunter Thompson
and I recently read and enjoyed Wedding in December.
So that's what I do in my off-time when I am not reading.
Peder
Oh! Plus the Graphic Novel for Proust's Combray [
]
StillILearn
New Member
Whoa! Thank you, Peder! I have Shadow of the Wind, so I might give that a try. Otherwise? Uncharted territory.
Peder
Well-Known Member
SIL,
The Baker Street Irregulars are a group of Sherlock Holmes aficionados who know all about Sherlock Holmes, every last jot and tiddle of his adventures (the Tube station where somebody escaped, etc). They are headquartered at Sherlock Holmes's old lodgings on actual Baker Street in London as I understand it and they get together for picnics and socializing. The name comes from the fact that Holmes himself had a group of urchins, his Irregulars, whom he used to ferret out information for him from the underworld.
I have never seen a similar group for Nabokov. Although there are at least two collections of real and genuine Nabokov scholars, I don't know that they or any other groups engage in light-hearted fripperies.
So whenever there is a knotty question of fact here in our own Nabokovia, I whimsically engage Holmes's fictional crew (when they are free.) They are a very colorful bunch.
Peder
The Baker Street Irregulars are a group of Sherlock Holmes aficionados who know all about Sherlock Holmes, every last jot and tiddle of his adventures (the Tube station where somebody escaped, etc). They are headquartered at Sherlock Holmes's old lodgings on actual Baker Street in London as I understand it and they get together for picnics and socializing. The name comes from the fact that Holmes himself had a group of urchins, his Irregulars, whom he used to ferret out information for him from the underworld.
I have never seen a similar group for Nabokov. Although there are at least two collections of real and genuine Nabokov scholars, I don't know that they or any other groups engage in light-hearted fripperies.
So whenever there is a knotty question of fact here in our own Nabokovia, I whimsically engage Holmes's fictional crew (when they are free.) They are a very colorful bunch.
Peder