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Vladimir Nabokov

Ok, you little men in little white coats.....you can take the injection apparatus back to the cellar.....its not needed...........for the moment. Heh, heh. heh.....:eek:
 
Vladimir Nabokov - Lectures on Don Quixote

I really wasn't going to buy this book, but was compelled by the dislike that Nabokov held for Don Quixote. I know! Sacrilege! It must some hidden (kinda) defect in my character that tempts me so. :rolleyes: Actually, one of the things I liked about Nabokov disliking DQ was VN's hatred of cruelty displayed in said novel. Here are a few quotes then.
"I remember with delight," Vladimir Nabokov said in 1966 to Herbert Gold, who had traveled to Montreaux to interview him, "tearing apart Don Quixote, a cruel and crude old book, before six hundred students in Memorial Hall, much to the horror and embarrassment of some of my more conservative colleagues." Tear it apart he did, for good critical reasons, but he also put it back together.
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Harvard required Nabokov to include DQ in his lectures. VN was shocked to see that
that American professors had over the years gentrified the cruel and crude old book into a genteel and whimsical myth about appearance and reality. So first of all he had to find the text for his students under all the prissy humbug a long tradition of misreading had sifted over it.
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The above is in the foreword by Guy Davenport.

Good Stuff.:D
 
pontalba said:
I really wasn't going to buy this book, but was compelled by the dislike that Nabokov held for Don Quixote. I know! Sacrilege! It must some hidden (kinda) defect in my character that tempts me so. :rolleyes: Actually, one of the things I liked about Nabokov disliking DQ was VN's hatred of cruelty displayed in said novel. Here are a few quotes then.
Harvard required Nabokov to include DQ in his lectures. VN was shocked to see that The above is in the foreword by Guy Davenport.

Good Stuff.:D
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You are tempting me, Pontalba, you are tempting me!
The three Lectures books are three that I have not bought.
Not quite by accident. It's just that I keep trying not to remember that I don't have them. :rolleyes: VN sounds like a professor I had who would tell us, "Before trying to interpret what is there, look carefully and actually make sure to see what is there!"
Peder
 
Peder This morning I took a look at the Russian Literature Lectures, and while there may be some extra, there seems to be some repetition of the plain Lectures on Literature. So, I'll tell you what, you buy the Russian version of Lectures, and we all can compare. ;) :cool: :D
 
pontalba said:
Peder This morning I took a look at the Russian Literature Lectures, and while there may be some extra, there seems to be some repetition of the plain Lectures on Literature. So, I'll tell you what, you buy the Russian version of Lectures, and we all can compare. ;) :cool: :D
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/Oh groan/ Pontalba,
That's wily feminine logic you are trying to use on me. And though I don't know how to disagree with it, and you do seem to have me surrounded, somehow I still don't completely feel I want to buy the book just yet. :cool:
/scratching head in confusion :confused: /
Peder
 
pontalba said:
Ah Well.....the best laid plans of mice and (wo)men....:D
Its my new "Economy Plan". :rolleyes:
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Well Pontalba,
It was definitely worth a try:D
But now don't you go run over and order it, or I'll feel very bad. :stern look:
Can I make believe I ordered it, even if I don't, or are you going to give a quiz? :rolleyes:
I have my tricks too. :D
Peder
 
Peder said:
Well Pontalba,
It was definitely worth a try:D
But now don't you go run over and order it, or I'll feel very bad. :stern look:
Can I make believe I ordered it, even if I don't, or are you going to give a quiz? :rolleyes:
I have my tricks too. :D
Peder
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Men can be soooo exasperating! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
And they have the nerve to say that women are illogical! :p

I can see that. :D
 
pontalba said:
Men can be soooo exasperating! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
And they have the nerve to say that women are illogical! :p

I can see that. :D
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You mean we have a draw, but you come out ahead?
That's fine by me, because I seldom do that well! :rolleyes:
Peder
 
VN The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov by Andrew Field

One must begin (and end) with Russia. For, although Vladimir Nabokov spoke three and a half languages--Russian, English, French, and a little more German than he ever found it convenient to admit--and lived for protracted periods in six countires--Russia, Germany, England, France, America, and Switzerland, Russian culture was, both consciously and unconsciously, always his guiding star. He lived a quiet life in interesting times and yet was a wild Russian in spirit as well as a great writer.
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and
It is important to stress that Nabokov himself was, above all, a biographer. There is, in fact, a German academic book about him called Fictitious Biographies, and it puts that case very well. Like Virginia Woolf and W.H. Auden, Nabokov was both repelled and fascinated by biography, which he called psychoplagiarism. He greatly feared it (more, really, than he feared Freudianism and hated communism), but in his work he has shown, perhaps more than any other modern writer, that biography is a genre like any other and has more unexplored potential than most.
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FYI :D
 
Wow, Pontalba!
You sure can find the telling excerpts! In addition, I think that is the first I have seen of Field's writing and he is apparently no slouch as a biographer of Nabokov either. Both he and Boyd bring so much more into their biographies than "just the facts" and provide such readable appreciations of their man, Nabokov, (not to mention Stacy Shiff for Vera). It is also satisfying to note that he captures in two short sentences what we here also have been noticing now for a while: autobiography in his works, attitude against Freud [fear!?], and hatred of communism. I suppose one might ask "how can one miss them?"
Wonderful reading!
Many thanks,
Peder

PS And I can't help noticing that he (and you) dangle before our eyes a book which has a well-nigh irresistible title. I am tying myself to the mast like Ulysses did to resist the Siren's call, but I dunno if the ropes will hold. :(
P
 
Pontalba,
Now I understand my confusion on price.
$4.95 that you found for Field, used, is indeed a bargain!
But I was thinking of the other book mentioned in the post, Fictitious Biographies which, no matter how intriguing that title sounds, is definitely no bargain at $40.00 :eek:
Peder
 
Peder said:
Pontalba,
Now I understand my confusion on price.
$4.95 that you found for Field, used, is indeed a bargain!
But I was thinking of the other book mentioned in the post, Fictitious Biographies which, no matter how intriguing that title sounds, is definitely no bargain at $40.00 :eek:
Peder
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I hadn't even investigated Fictitious Biographies.........yet :rolleyes:
But for 40 bucks......I won't!

And btw, the Field is in excellent condition. :)
 
pontalba said:
I hadn't even investigated Fictitious Biographies.........yet :rolleyes:
But for 40 bucks......I won't!
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Pontalba,
You are growing wiser every day in every way. :D :D :D /big smilies, but running anyway/
Peder
 
Peder said:
Pontalba,
You are growing wiser every day in every way. :D :D :D /big smilies, but running anyway/
Peder
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Hah! Running is good. :D

btw, I did check it out, and its 39.99 on Amazon, and only 140 pages. I don't think its worth it. Thankfully! :D
 
This is no doubt premature, but did I see The Gift mentioned as one of VN's finest novels back there someplace? Just didn't want the idea to get lost for when we ever get around to thinking what next? It sounds, and looks, more easlily approachable than either Pale Fire or Ada which were also mentioned in the same breath. And, I think it has a character a lot like Vera, although VN says: "I did not marry Zina Mertz." That sounds like a clue for sure. Why is he denying it? :rolleyes:
But it's too early,
Peder
 
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