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Vladimir Nabokov
- Thread starter Peder
- Start date
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Peder!
LOL The first thing I thought of was the scene in Pnin. Nabokov's wonderfully obsessive memory served him well.
The sounds you heard were me speeding a few feet over to the bookcase closest to the computer that holds.....yes...Nabokov. Found your quote, and read on from there. /sigh/ Young Love.
Gotta love his father.
LOL The first thing I thought of was the scene in Pnin. Nabokov's wonderfully obsessive memory served him well.
The sounds you heard were me speeding a few feet over to the bookcase closest to the computer that holds.....yes...Nabokov. Found your quote, and read on from there. /sigh/ Young Love.
Gotta love his father.
Peder
Well-Known Member
Pontalba,pontalba said:Found your quote, and read on from there. /sigh/ Young Love.
Gotta love his father.
Yeah, young love! Sweet innit?
Also neat that his father was so well thought of.
That might not have hurt with the girls, either, being prince to the king.
As I said, just plain ordinary backgrounds to his stories.
Riiiiiight. So, let's see. What didn't he have?
Peder
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Um, Peder, I don't think it was a question of prince to the king here, have you looked at the pictures of Nabokov? Not a bad lookin' fella.Peder said:Pontalba,
Yeah, young love! Sweet innit?
Also neat that his father was so well thought of.
That might not have hurt with the girls, either, being prince to the king.
As I said, just plain ordinary backgrounds to his stories.
So, let's see. What didn't he have?
Peder
Plus he had IT.
Peder
Well-Known Member
Pontalba,pontalba said:Um, Peder, I don't think it was a question of prince to the king here, have you looked at the pictures of Nabokov? Not a bad lookin' fella.
Plus he had IT.
All very true. But I'll bet there also weren't any mothers telling their daughters not to go out with him, wait for someone better.
I bet when his parents held a reception there wasn't a single daughter left home alone. Sons, feh! But daughters, you are coming whether you like it or not, so get dressed! And I mean really dressed! And remember. Smile!
/cynical to the core/
Peder
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Yeah, but I'd make book that the gals were not dragging their lil ole heels one teeny, tiny bit either.Peder said:Pontalba,
All very true. But I'll bet there also weren't any mothers telling their daughters not to go out with him, wait for someone better.
I bet when his parents held a reception there wasn't a single daughter left home alone. Sons, feh! But daughters, you are coming whether you like it or not, so get dressed! And I mean really dressed! And remember. Smile!
/cynical to the core/
Peder
StillILearn
New Member
Peder said:Well, Still,
Does that all make you feel any better about all the girl problems poor worn out VN had to put up with?
Peder
Poor worn out VN? What about poor young Martin? He's been a pretty busy teenager so far. A girl named Bess just helped herself to ten of his pounds (I wonder how much that amounted to back then?); Martin seems to have thought it a fair trade at any rate, as he went straight out and climbed a lampost.
Peder
Well-Known Member
Still
It does seem a little odd to hear VN praise Martin Edelweiss so highly in the Introduction as one of his characters, and then see the unconventional and naive ways that Martin behaves in the story. I'm still thinking that over.
But it sounds like you are making great progress. YAY!
Peder
It does seem a little odd to hear VN praise Martin Edelweiss so highly in the Introduction as one of his characters, and then see the unconventional and naive ways that Martin behaves in the story. I'm still thinking that over.
But it sounds like you are making great progress. YAY!
Peder
StillILearn
New Member
Libra's kindly contributions lead me to find this on the web. It's a sample of what Podvig looked like when she was still in the works:
StillILearn
New Member
Looks as if this took place before he began working on the 3 x 5 index cards.
Peder
Well-Known Member
As mentioned in the Lolita thread, I purchased B.R. Meyrs' A Readers Manifesto after noticing in an amazon review that Myers was reported to regard Nabokov favorably. I had hopes of finding selections in the book from VN's works and I thought it would be interesting to see what they were and what Myers said about them. Disappointingly, they are only extremely brief allusions. The first allusion, to Lolita, has already been mentioned in that thread. The next two occur briefly in a single paragraph
The subtitle to the Myers' book is An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose. And as these excerpts suggest, the major part of the text is devoted to dissecting examples of the writing of five well-reviewed and highly honored current authors (and their favorable reviewers) whom he believes all exemplify the pretentiousness of the subtitle: Paul Auster, DonDeLillo, David Guterson, Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx. The book concludes with Myers' defense against critics who think he has been too harsh, or simply wrong.
Peder
The final mention of Nabokov is simply:
So that's the extent of Nabokov's writings, among other authors', which are used as standards against which other writers are judged.
The subtitle to the Myers' book is An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose. And as these excerpts suggest, the major part of the text is devoted to dissecting examples of the writing of five well-reviewed and highly honored current authors (and their favorable reviewers) whom he believes all exemplify the pretentiousness of the subtitle: Paul Auster, DonDeLillo, David Guterson, Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx. The book concludes with Myers' defense against critics who think he has been too harsh, or simply wrong.
Peder
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Perhaps so, however could be that he first, as an extremely rough, rough draft used the 3x5s and then went on to the typewritten pages as you show them. Remember how Vera had to type and retype? Never ending. All that with no word processor of any sort.StillILearn said:
Peder
Well-Known Member
Pontalba,pontalba said:
Interesting that you should mention.
I don't remember that the critics and reviewers who challenged Myers suggested that there were any other authors he should also have ctiticized, old or new. They mainly rejected his understanding of modern-day creative literature and/or his credentials for having any such opinions in the first place. Some were simply dismissive and condescending, saying that periodically there are such ill-informed nay-sayers out there. He, however, stood his ground and also pointed to a large amount of favorable response that he said his ideas had received. I don't have a dog in that fight, but his criticisms seemed to be well taken in terms of the selections of writing that he used -- the same selections that reviewers (whom he thought were deluded) had praised very highly. It is a slim book and whether or not he proved his main point -- that the quality of writing in novels has declined overall -- is probably still arguable. But some of his comments were so out-loud hilarious they had me laughing in the coffee shop. Nevertheless, were it not for the exaggerated mention of Nabokov that I read in a review, I'm not sure it is a book I would have run right out and bought, especially since I haven't read any of the current authors he criticizes.
Peder
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Greetings Fellow Nabokovians and of course wannabe Nabokovians!. It is morning here, bright sunshine is streaming in my window, and it bodes to be a beautiful day. A wonderful day to sit in the backyard and finish (hopefully) a Gloryious book. 
You know who you are! LOL
Back later after tea.
You know who you are! LOL
Back later after tea.