tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8355939971091038509..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Pnin in the meantime had yielded to the satisfaction of a special Pninian craving - Nabokov's temptationsAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57586439320798806782017-05-30T13:17:21.457-05:002017-05-30T13:17:21.457-05:00First, Mr. Bailey's voice, his honesty and his...First, Mr. Bailey's voice, his honesty and his insight are things that I, for one, greatly admire. And yes, Nabokov is smug, just look at him explaining some of his tricks: <br />"Stéphane Mallarmé has left three or four immortal bagatelles, and among these is L'Après-Midi d'un Faune. Krug is haunted by a passage from this voluptuous eclogue where the faun accuses the nymph of disengaging herself from his embrace 'sans pitié du sanglot dont j'étais encore ivre' ('spurning the spasm with which I still was drunk'). Fractured parts of this line re-echo through the book, cropping up for instance in the malarma ne donje of Dr Azureus' wail of rue, and in the donje te zankoriv of apologetic Krug." Or "that Pankrat Tzikutin, the shabby old pogromystic is Socrates Hemlocker" or "that the 'other rivermaid's father' is James Joyce who wrote Winnipeg Lake" (Finnegans Wake). <br />"Most people will not even mind having missed all this; well-wishers will bring their own symbols and mobiles, and portable radios, to my little party. In the long run, however, it is only the author's private satisfaction that counts. I reread my books rarely, but when I do go through them again, what pleases me most is the wayside murmur of this or that hidden theme."<br /><br />The antidote to this smugness is, of course, to follow Borges' advise and to bring your own radio to Nabokov's little party. Be Pierre Menard's to Nabokov's Cervantian cruelty and brilliance (how much old VN would have hated that comparison).Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-23630277229133442362017-05-30T04:53:05.349-05:002017-05-30T04:53:05.349-05:00First, Doctor, do no harm.First, Doctor, do no harm.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-90021859879495400842017-05-30T04:47:08.755-05:002017-05-30T04:47:08.755-05:00Just came across it - Mr.Tom and the comments and ...Just came across it - Mr.Tom and the comments and another page(https://notesfromzembla.wordpress.com) gave me a bout of hiccups.. <br /><br />Call it home remedyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-65324295281873607182017-05-29T11:17:24.972-05:002017-05-29T11:17:24.972-05:00Ad hominen on a six year-old post; why, why?Ad hominen on a six year-old post; why, why?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17549150511621808902017-05-29T11:13:40.703-05:002017-05-29T11:13:40.703-05:00God you don't know what you're talking abo...God you don't know what you're talking about Mr. Bailey. .<br /><br />What a bore Nabokov would be if he were continually saying "hey look how clever!" or "did you see me notice that thing?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-26141134336868600572014-05-28T16:36:30.244-05:002014-05-28T16:36:30.244-05:00Myself being such a contrarian, you've put me ... Myself being such a contrarian, you've put me in the difficult position of trying to find writers of Nabokovian level who are not show-offs. <br /> Uhmmm... Let's see... Uhmmm... Please hold on.... <br /> Okay. Perez Galdos; for example, during the first two hundred pages of La de Bringas you have no idea what that novel is going to be about, and yet, the book seems straightforward and simple, so carefully has Galdos hidden his scaffolding.<br /> Oh! and Kafka, whose short parables like Odradek or A Crossbreed or Jackals and Arabs could seemingly be written by any good writer, style-wise.<br /> Hawthorne, perhaps? <br /> And then it hits me: this is stupid stuff. All of them, great writers and magicians, show-offs or modest ones, worked hard to bring joy into our world. All I can feel is gratitude for the graffiti they left on the passing walls as we, together with the immortal Alice in Wonderland, crash towards (well, you know the rest). Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-32626081594645234552014-05-28T08:17:23.216-05:002014-05-28T08:17:23.216-05:00Wonderful, "At least some of the same rewards...Wonderful, "At least some of the same rewards" - exactly.<br /><br />Who would have thought that such poignancy could be wrung from a dish-washing scene?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-30700912354783346852014-05-28T04:54:01.099-05:002014-05-28T04:54:01.099-05:00I just finished Pnin last night, so naturally I vi...I just finished Pnin last night, so naturally I visit here this morning.<br /><br />I've read the biggies - Lolita; Speak, Memory and Pale Fire - before, but I am quite giddy at the prospect that every one of VN's books will offer at least some of the same rewards. I'd never really considered them (the "minors") of interest, more fool me.<br /><br />Pnin itself I thought a marvellous piece of celebration and mockery. There is a <i>very</i> sweet moment of redemption just after the quote you end with. The effortlessness of the pen-pics of the vast array of named (or mentioned) characters is something quite remarkable. And the continued trope of things seen through windows, images that merge into visions and (physical) reflections. Wonderful.leroyhunternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-34552269450494996842011-01-10T21:49:53.478-06:002011-01-10T21:49:53.478-06:00I was afraid it might be a let down... whole corri...<i>I was afraid it might be a let down</i>... <i>whole corridors of rooms</i><br /><br />At the sentence level, actually, there is no possibility of a let down. If I were a true Nabokovian, that would be sufficient. But there are, I suppose, other valuable aspects of fiction. <br /><br />I'm going to revisit the "ingenuity" issue, what I was discussing with Scott Bailey up above, soon. It's got me thinkin'.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-6942396264837341532011-01-08T19:50:20.038-06:002011-01-08T19:50:20.038-06:00As a senior in college I read "Pnin", Lo...As a senior in college I read "Pnin", Lolita", and "Pale Fire" back-to-back-to-back. Man, was that fun! I was always afraid to read anymore Nabokov after that (except for the occasional short story) because I was afraid it might be a let down.Robby Virushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01206018782013858134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80482769595877952312011-01-06T23:31:06.432-06:002011-01-06T23:31:06.432-06:00Oh, aiee, I've had Pnin on my list for ages an...Oh, aiee, I've had Pnin on my list for ages and now I see I have another whole corridor of rooms opening up past that one. Oh. Thank you sir may I have another. What a thing it is to be almost well-read.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-16448791454513113112011-01-06T23:25:36.110-06:002011-01-06T23:25:36.110-06:00maybe I'm just shaking my fist at a dead autho...<i>maybe I'm just shaking my fist at a dead author and vowing to show him up someday.</i> <br /><br />Yes! Outstanding! I'm all for that. I have your blog in the ol' RSS reader, so I can keep track of your progress.<br /><br />I agree, too, with the potential of Proust and Joyce and VN over drinks. Nabokov and Joyce met at a lecture; Proust and Joyce met at a dinner. Both meetings seem to have been uninspired. Oh well. All three are probably getting along sparklingly now.<br /><br />Thanks for the nice words. <br /><br />nicole - if you read the VN's <i>Stories of</i> straight through, which I do not recommend, you will see that the first - oh, I don't remember - six or eight or ten stories, very early ones, really do not sound much like Nabokov. They're period pieces, good but like many things written at the time. My understanding is that his earliest Russian poems are also derivative. So he was not quite fully-formed at birth.<br /><br />What a mystery, the way a voice coalesces, the way a weak voice becomes strong.<br /><br />I love that cab horse passage. "Soft crackly sound" is good; that the horses are <i>dreaming</i> of the sound is better.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-88218820838190412602011-01-06T20:34:21.038-06:002011-01-06T20:34:21.038-06:00How lovely that I have inspired so many! I figure ...How lovely that I have inspired so many! I figure it's going to take me about a year to read precisely, pretty much, what you outline. I'm in no rush.<br /><br /><em>Those horses dreaming of the exact sound of falling oats, that is just ordinary Nabokov. He gets better, although he is recognizably himself from the first book. </em><br /><br />It's funny how true this is. "Ordinary," yes, it is ordinary Nabokov, and he is <em>so</em> recognizably himself. Not that anything else would be possible, I don't think. He sprang fully formed from the soil of Russia, no?nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-63361502029502768812011-01-06T16:47:13.868-06:002011-01-06T16:47:13.868-06:00Also--and I'll be brief--I just read your &quo...Also--and I'll be brief--I just read your "implied writer" post and a) it's a great piece, and b) Proust, Nabokov and Joyce are all folks I'd willingly knock a few back with.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-89132571608518435202011-01-06T16:40:34.979-06:002011-01-06T16:40:34.979-06:00I do not get the same sense of "look at what ...I do not get the same sense of "look at what <i>I</i> can do" from either Proust or Joyce, though both of them are certainly high-wire artists of the first rank. Maybe you're hitting close to the mark when you ask, "Is it that Nabokov is deliberately showing them to you, or that you are now looking for them?" I remember being nothing but delighted years ago by the games in <i>Pale Fire</i> and <i>Transparent Things</i>. When I lately read <i>Sebastian Knight</i> and realized that the form of the narrative was changing and taking on the shape of whichever of Knight's novels was being discussed at the time, and that the novel itself may have been one of the novels in question and that the narrator ("V") may have been Knight himself, something happened to my relationship with old Vladimir. Possibly I saw him behind the curtain, nodding with glee, and maybe I wasn't meant to look. Maybe it's that I am more aware of Nabokov's technique and I am awed by his relentless courage and inventiveness. Or maybe I'm just shaking my fist at a dead author and vowing to show him up someday. <br /><br />I don't recall clearly how I used to read novels, but I think I treated the reading act as more-or-less simply an experience I was having; I was less aware of the text as a machine some craftsman had designed and assembled by hand.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-32782613196239935632011-01-06T15:46:17.380-06:002011-01-06T15:46:17.380-06:00out of my intellectual depth - oh, we're all a...<i>out of my intellectual depth</i> - oh, we're all amateurs here.<br /><br />Nabokov's last novel, <i>Look at the Harlequins</i>, is a career-spanning self-parody that is presumably gibberish to readers not familiar with most of his work. It's a book for particular readers. Sometimes in <i>Ada</i>, particularly, references appear to be for one particular reader. I don't see, though, how a passage written for the benefit of Véra Nabokov is at my expense.<br /><br />But I at least have a sense of what you see, although the difficulty of finding that smugness is that the narrators are often smug egomaniacs. <br /><br />And I have trouble seeing how Joyce or Proust, to stay up at Nabokov's stylistic level, draw less attention to their best writing. The attentive reader says something like "Oh, now <i>that</i> was good!" - "(picnic, lightning)," right? Please, authors, do not turn down the dazzle. Show me the good stuff!<br /><br />How did you read Nabokov before you wrote? Honestly, I always read <i>with</i> the writer, the <a href="http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/2009/10/company-i-keep-objects-of-my-sympathy.html" rel="nofollow">implied writer</a> (Emily Brontë is the example at the link). I'm trying to figure out what the author is doing. Every great writer is a show off. I want them to be.<br /><br />I very much doubt that you are either intimidated or envious. When one dismantles a complex work of art, the tricks and techniques become visible. Is it that Nabokov is deliberately showing them to you, or that you are now looking for them?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76425166503855963642011-01-06T13:14:17.036-06:002011-01-06T13:14:17.036-06:00"how would a brilliant adult showing off be d..."how would a brilliant adult showing off be different?"<br /><br />I have no idea. I'm clearly out of my intellectual depth in this discussion, but I'll hazard an answer anyway. When I read Nabokov, I am aware not only of his magic, but also of his awareness of my awareness. There is an smugness seeping through the narrative and I get the feeling that a lot of the humor is at my expense as a reader. So it's not just "look at <i>this</i>;" it's also a lot of "look at <i>me</i> doing this," if you take my meaning. The brilliant text is not what VN points you to; he points you to himself as brilliant creator of the text. Though the pleasure he takes in his own magic is sincere, I still see a message--often subtle but often more direct--that there's no way a mere reader could be smart enough to fully appreciate just how cool VN's magic tricks really are.<br /><br />Oddly enough, before I began writing fiction, I never felt this way about Nabokov. My relationship with texts changed as I began to produce my own. I admit the possibility that what I perceive as a "pearls before swine" attitude running through VN's work is all in my head and I'm just intimidated and envious. I'll have to think about that.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85713521503633495262011-01-06T12:36:38.574-06:002011-01-06T12:36:38.574-06:00It does not seem to me that sweetness is incompati...<i>It does not seem to me that sweetness is incompatible with cruelty</i><br /><br />Absolutely - that's one of VN's great themes. The sweetness is perhaps never so explicit as in <i>Pnin</i>. The subtlety of the turn against the cruel, bullying narrator is a marvel, a great use of the serial form. The book is sort of an anti-<i>Lolita</i>.<br /><br />Nana - that's just it - there are many options, great variety. One book, even <i>Lolita</i>, does not give us anything like the whole of Nabokov.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-20057688040627020542011-01-06T04:51:13.763-06:002011-01-06T04:51:13.763-06:00Great commentary. I have wanted to read Lolita but...Great commentary. I have wanted to read Lolita but you have given me options.ImageNationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06021414643103601330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85275088671515909972011-01-06T03:06:37.332-06:002011-01-06T03:06:37.332-06:00It does not seem to me that sweetness is incompati...It does not seem to me that sweetness is incompatible with cruelty - though that is perhaps a personal idiosyncrasy. I did not mean that Nabokov (or the narrator) was sweet to Pnin, but that the experience, for a reader, was one of sweetness or tenderness, as after having a tooth (or all one's teeth) pulled.<br /><br />One of the things I like especially about <i>Pnin</i> is that although Nabokov (or the narrator) indulges in his usual cape-swishing and showing off, in <i>Pnin</i> it does not feel as though it were <i>always</i> at the reader's expense, or for some purpose beyond the reader. <i>Pnin</i> feels - to me, a reader - as though it were meant to be read and enjoyed and comprehended by people other than Vladimir Vladimirovich; perhaps that sensation is a result of laziness on my part.eudaemonisthttp://www.eudaemonist.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50350158864076921542011-01-05T21:10:48.418-06:002011-01-05T21:10:48.418-06:00mel - fine choice. As the eudaimonist says, it...mel - fine choice. As the eudaimonist says, it's a kind-hearted, even sweet, book, and also unusual in that it's a genuine serial.<br /><br />As for VN's teaching, Stacey Schiff wrote a first-rate <i>New Yorker</i> piece about it. Heck if I can find it, though. The piece is also a chapter in her 2000 biography of Véra Nabokov.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-1411843401983428782011-01-05T17:29:31.153-06:002011-01-05T17:29:31.153-06:00Pnin will probably be my next Nabokov-I have one o...Pnin will probably be my next Nabokov-I have one of his collections of lectures also-so far I have read the lectures on Kakfa and on Stephenson-both of which are very illuminating-Imagine studying with Nabakov and FMF!Mel uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714473754458914681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-56080101586933930672011-01-05T17:26:47.759-06:002011-01-05T17:26:47.759-06:00If Pnin is so sweet, why is the title character fo...If <i>Pnin</i> is so sweet, why is the title character forced to flee the book? Skeptics and doubters will appreciate that Prof. Pnin is trying to escape from the <i>insufferable Vladimir Nabokov</i>.<br /><br />Shelley, since your writing has such a strong sense of home and place, I have an approach for you. VN lost his home to the Soviets. The loss was irreparable. He saw art as a substitute - a way to preserve or re-create that past, to keep it alive somehow. Thus, the themes of exile and return, memory and loss. Thus the need to observe carefully, to be precise, to keep every detail, to construct the memory palace.<br /><br />In this regard, <i>Speak, Memory</i> is the key text. I recommend it to any skeptic. But perhaps you know it. There is so much more to Nabokov than <i>Lolita</i>.<br /><br />Scott - how would a brilliant adult showing off be different? Note that I am granting most of your claim. But there's a reason VN is often described as a magician. How should a magician display his tricks?<br /><br />In this regard, is VN much different than Joyce, or Proust, or, going back, Goethe or Hugo? The difference is that the last two are not magicians but sages. But they are not humble writers. DO we wish they were?<br /><br />Anthony - outstanding. I'm sure nicole won't mind the company. I don't know how fast she's planning to move. Not too fast, I hope.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-28190811888608058652011-01-05T14:43:23.343-06:002011-01-05T14:43:23.343-06:00Nicole's also inspired me to read all Nabokov&...Nicole's also inspired me to read all Nabokov's novels. I may just tackle the Russian translations this year. I am looking forward to <i>Mary</i>.ABhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00424190778506425886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-12704180914873268632011-01-05T12:34:58.208-06:002011-01-05T12:34:58.208-06:00The thing about Nabokov is that he's so aware ...The thing about Nabokov is that he's so aware of how much brighter than his readers he is, and he can't help but point it out. I can only allow myself one Nabokov per year (this year it's a re-read of <i>Invitation to a Beheading</i> and last year it was <i>The Real Life of Sebastian Knight</i>) because, while I love the way he dazzles and shows you just how much he can do with all the elements from word-choice up to narrative form, Nabokov also loved what he could do and had to point to it. Like he was a brilliant little boy showing off. His notes to <i>A Hero of Our Time</i> gradually take over the reading experience and Lermontov's text becomes a stage upon which Nabokov dances for his own pleasure, inviting us to watch. Amazing and infuriating and I keep coming back for more.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.com