Vladimir Nabokov

[pontalba]

I'm going to check out Boyd's remarks regarding The Gift...

 

[pontalba]

Peder Boyd's section on The Gift begins on p.447 The Russian Years. i didn't want to read too far into it, so not to spill the beans, but I think your estimation to be correct.

 

[Peder]

Peder Boyd's section on The Gift begins on p.447 The Russian Years. I didn't want to read too far into it, so not to spill the beans, but I think your estimation to be correct.

Pontalba,
re: "I did not marry Zina Mertz"
Boyd, in his companion book to Pale Fire, commenting on hidden allusions, says something almost exactly like "When Nabokov writes that something is unimportant, you can almost be certain that it is very imprtant."
Sounds like he knows his man,

Peder

 

[pontalba]

Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years

While searching for information on The Real Life of Sebastian Knight in Boyds VN, I ran across these references to Field's bio of Nabokov. Having just purchased Fields bio, I was curious. Here is one exerpt: p.581

He was an expert tease. Once he told an interviewer, quite truthfully, that he didn't need friends who read books, but simply bright people, "people who understand jokes." then he added with resignation: "Vera doesn't laugh. She is married to one of the great clowns of all time, but she never laughs." The poor interviewer failed to see the joke--Nabokov prized in Vera the best sense of humor he had ever met in a woman--and by recording the lament straight, the interviewer unwittingly revealed he had himself failed Nabokov's test. One day Nabokov mocked Field's solemn harping on the myth that Nabokov's father was an illegitimate son of Tsar Alexander II. He danced a little jig: "Yes, sometimes I feel the blood of Peter the Great in me!" Vera, who had already observed Field's failure to understand her husband's jokes, shouted out that he must not say such things--and Field took that as confirmation that the Nabokovs feared this supposed family secret.

Oy!

 

[Peder]

While searching for information on The Real Life of Sebastian Knight in Boyds VN, I ran across these references to Field's bio of Nabokov. Having just purchased Fields bio, I was curious. Here is one exerpt: p.581 Oy!

Pontalba,
Oh, poor Nabokov! Poor Vera! I wonder what he really thought of Field after he saw that in print! I recall having read that Boyd was an improvement over Field in being more complete and based on availability of more material, in addition to correcting a number of inaccuracies. I thought they were "small" inaccuracies. Who would have imagined? And they say shades of meaning get lost on the Web. Not only. Not only!
Sounds like it is good you have both,
Peder

BTW How did Sebastian Knight sound as a possible read for here?

 

[pontalba]

First off The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is described by Edmund Wilson as thusly--

He telephoned Nabokov shortly after reading The Real Life of Sebastian Knight to tell him he had discovered that the whole novel was built as a chess game. Nabokov told him, quite truthfully, that this was not the case.

[Nabokov was telling the truth btw].
There are many scattered references throughout Boyd's American Years but so far just remarks, not any type of synopsis as in the others. Strange. But if its there I'll find it eventually.
When an aquaintence of mine found out I was reading Nabokov last year, she told me that she thought I would like TRLSK as it was actually a mystery.

 

[Peder]

When an aquaintence of mine found out I was reading Nabokov last year, she told me that she thought I would like TRLSK as it was actually a mystery.

Pontalba,
That is what I recall reading someplace and it may make a pleasant change of pace for here. I bet VN can write complicated mysteries with cleverly hidden clues, I bet!
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Peder
I read the first page or two of Sebastian Knight, and as usual, Nabokov sucks the reader right into the story.........

 

[Peder]

Peder
I read the first page or two of Sebastian Knight, and as usual, Nabokov sucks the reader right into the story.........

Oh Pontalba,
I decided to pull my copy out after seeing your post and I am still laughing out loud. I see we have a garrulous narrator:

I have not been able to obtain a picture of where Sebastian Knight was born, but I know it well, for I was born there myself, some six years later, we had the same father ....

I don't quite know why, but I started laughing out loud and thought to myself "Oh boy! Here we go!..."

I am forcing myself to put the book back, but this time on the top of the pile.
And still LOL,
Peder

 

[pontalba]

I have three words for ya.......Olga Olegovna Orlova.

And

...and by the way how queer it is when you look at an old picture postcard (like the one I have placed on my desk to keep the child of memory amused for a moment).....

 

[StillILearn]

Peder =

And, I think it has a character a lot like Vera, although VN says: "I did not marry Zina Mertz." Why is he denying it?

The is no possible way on earth that I can be the first person to add: Nor did he marry Ethel Mertz. Can I?

 

[Peder]

Peder =

The is no possible way on earth that I can be the first person to add: Nor did he marry Ethel Mertz. Can I?

SIL
I think you are onto something! He did look a little like Fred Mertz didn't he?

Peder

 

[Ms.]

I finished reading Transparent Things a few weeks ago, I didn’t enjoy reading it which has niggled at me. The fact that it’s my first novella and it only took a few hours may have affected my enjoyment. The continuous change of narrators and musings of the writer (his name escapes me at the moment) irritated me no end because I could not get a grip on the story. I’m still unsure as to what Nabokov intended to convey and left the novella feeling slightly bewildered but also immensely saddened for Hugh. The idea I took from it was the shoddiness of our reflection upon past memories, an idea we all should be in part be able to relate to but left me cold. I enjoyed the wonderful descriptive prose and certain scenes but otherwise :S

What am I missing or failing to understanding, surely it is not a case that Nabokov writing ability declined ?

I'm currently reading Ada and have read the following

Pale Fire

Speak Memory

Lolita

Transparent Things

Collected short stories

The real life of Sebastian Knight

Pnin

The Gift

What should I purchase next?

 

[steffee]

What should I purchase next?

Glory and Invitation to a Beheading.

 

[Peder]

I finished reading Transparent Things a few weeks ago, I didn’t enjoy reading it which has niggled at me. I enjoyed the wonderful descriptive prose and certain scenes but otherwise :S

What am I missing or failing to understanding, surely it is not a case that Nabokov writing ability declined ?

I'm currently reading Ada and have read the following

Pale Fire

Speak Memory

Lolita

Transparent Things

Collected short stories

The real life of Sebastian Knight

Pnin

The Gift

What should I purchase next?

MS
How very glad I am to hear from another Nabokovian, and from someone who has also read Transparent Things! You are right that it is very brief and goes by very fast, and that the continual shifting of viewpoint makes for confusing reading. I don't know whether you are really missing anything or not but, like you, I doubt that the work shows declining abilities. After all, Look at the Harlequins was next, and last, of his novels and that is a full length very complex work from the little I have read about it.
Apart from its brevity, there were two things I noticed especially about Transparent Things. First, that it seemed to be a very condensed presentation in which all the elements of Nabokov's literary style were nevertheless still clearly present -- especially his intricate layering of the story among past, present and future time frames and, in addition, his shifting between reality and afterlife events. All in all, that is six combinations to sort out in reading, and perhaps more than are found in any other of his works. So I think it may may have been written by him, in part, as a stylistic tour de force. However, it also shows, more than any other work IMO, his views of the afterlife and the very ephemeral and fleeting ways it might interact with and perhaps influence events in our real world. I think he believed in an afterlife such as he described there, and that Transparent Things is his intentional illustration and clearest exposition of that belief in his fiction.
Those are simply my reactions to my initial reading and I don't yet know what additional or corrected thoughts any further rereading might provide.

I am pleased to see that you have read so many of his works, including those frequently regarded as his very best, including Ada which you are currently reading. I'm not sure which one you ought to read next; I myself have the same question! But, since you already have a clear understanding of his style and the varied kinds of novels that he writes, I believe that you can choose as you wish and find enjoyment in any of his works.

However, with the background you already have, another possibillity is what really comes to my mind. If you were interested in moving outside his fiction, then his life story itself makes fascinating reading. It also provides the background for so many recognizable parts of the novels you have read that it wil contribut to their further enjoyment in that way. I would suggest Brian Boyd's 2-vol. biography, The Russian Years and The American Years, and/or the shorter biography of his wife, Vera by Stacy Shiff. Boyd is very complete and also includes very insightful appreciations of Nabokov's individual works. It will probably include answers to your questions about Transparent Things in a very perceptive and convincing manner. That at least is my guess wthout having actually looked.
Vera is, strictly speaking, the biography of his wife, who was herself an amazing woman but, because of their inseparable marriage, many insights and stories about her huband are inevitably included. It is fully as facinating and readable as any of his fiction, and much more revealing of both their very colorful human sides. They were not dull people.
I have read just about the same novels that you have, exxcept that I have read Mary, his first novel, and The Enchanter, but have not yet read The Real Life of Sebastian Knight or The Gift. But in that connection I would strongly recommend that, having read Pale Fire, you really now ought to read Brian Boyd's companion volume, Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery. It will provide an amazing insight into how deeply constructed Nabokov's works can be, as well as a literally stunning example of the heights which can be reached through interpretation of Nabokov's major work. It is written by a (or the) foremost Nabokov expert and is both eye- and mind-opening. You will almost certainly never read Nabokov's writings in the same way again.

Finally, please allow me to extend my siincerest invitation that you join our discussions and fully participate in the selections of the books we read. We are currently deep into the discussion of Glory in a separate thread and your added thoughts would be very welcome. In addition you are welcome to add your thoughts to threads on Lolita and Pnin which we have also discussed. You will no doubt prompt further conversations there. I am sure we all look forward to your participation and we hope that you too are so inclined.

Yours most sincerely,
Peder

 

[StillILearn]

Ms, if you are not entirely bedazzled by this incredibly gracious and informed invitation, then you are immune to wizardry. Peder has several of us under his spell.

Like any addict, I will only add: Try it, you'll like it!

 

[Peder]

An' watch out for that SIL! She'll wrap you right around her little finger.

Thanks for the nice words SIL. Now can I uncurl?

Peder

 

[pontalba]

Ms What a dynamite list you've already read!! Wonderful!
I have to second what Peder said about Boyd's two volumn bio of Nabokov (they are invaluable!), and the Schiff of Vera as well.
I also think you may find the various Lectures of Nabokov extremely interesting.
We hope to see you contributing to the various Nabokov threads steadily!

 

[StillILearn]

And if Peder don't getcha, Ms, then pontalba surely will, with her combination of suth'ren charm and a brilliant mind. This woman reads.

 

[pontalba]

And if Peder don't getcha, Ms, then pontalba surely will, with her combination of suth'ren charm and a brilliant mind. This woman reads.

the check is in the mail....