Subject
Fw: Fw: Rereading Nabokov
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Howell" <fanshaw@123mail.org>
) ------------------
> I'm re-reading Lolita - and Gaddis's The Recognitions - and I couldn't
> agree more that the true test of a novel's worth is that you notice more
> with each successive reading. There are some writers whom you get the
> first time round - and you could include a lot of the Dirty Realists such
> as Carver, Ford, Dubus etc. - and there is nothing wrong with this.
>
> My one and only reservation about Lolita is that each part is so equally
> weighted that it's easy to break off and come back to it at almost any
> time. Granted, there is a plot but it is a very general arc, I think. I
> love all the allusions and games, they make the book for me, but the one
> overriding theme of constantly embroidering HH's fascination for nymphets
> is repetitive in the extreme. But obviously that is the point.
>
> Brian Howell
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:02:47 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> said:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Cotugno, Marianne
> > To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 9:00 AM
> > Subject: Rereading Nabokov
> >
> >
> > Was just having this discussion with a friend about the various
responses
> > one can have when rereading a text (he told me the same thing happens
> > when he reads Joyce's Portrait). I'm rereading Lolita for my class and
> > absolutely LOVING this novel - noticing all sorts of little details I've
> > missed (or forgotten) in past readings. This wasn't the case last year
> > when I read it; I felt a bit bored by everything.
> >
> >
> >
> > This makes me wonder WHY I have these varying responses to a novel that
I
> > fundamentally do appreciate. I haven't reread The Real Life of
Sebastian
> > Knight recently, which was always a favorite of mine as an undergrad and
> > grad, but I wonder if I'd like that less.
> >
> >
> >
> > Does anyone else have a comparable "love-hate" relationship with a
> > Nabokov novel? If so, has anyone given much thought or whitespace to
> > thinking or writing about this?
> >
> >
> >
> > I do think my excitement about the novel is in part due to reading it
> > alongside Reading Lolita in Tehran, which has reinvigorated my sense of
> > the novel especially at the school where I teach.
> >
> >
> >
> > MC
> >
> >
>
> http://www.windriverpress.com/titles/studyofsleep.html
> http://www.tobypress.com/books/dance_geometry.htm
> http://www.elasticpress.com/sound_of_white_ants.htm
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail.fm - And now for something completely different.
>
From: "Brian Howell" <fanshaw@123mail.org>
) ------------------
> I'm re-reading Lolita - and Gaddis's The Recognitions - and I couldn't
> agree more that the true test of a novel's worth is that you notice more
> with each successive reading. There are some writers whom you get the
> first time round - and you could include a lot of the Dirty Realists such
> as Carver, Ford, Dubus etc. - and there is nothing wrong with this.
>
> My one and only reservation about Lolita is that each part is so equally
> weighted that it's easy to break off and come back to it at almost any
> time. Granted, there is a plot but it is a very general arc, I think. I
> love all the allusions and games, they make the book for me, but the one
> overriding theme of constantly embroidering HH's fascination for nymphets
> is repetitive in the extreme. But obviously that is the point.
>
> Brian Howell
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:02:47 -0800, "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> said:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Cotugno, Marianne
> > To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 9:00 AM
> > Subject: Rereading Nabokov
> >
> >
> > Was just having this discussion with a friend about the various
responses
> > one can have when rereading a text (he told me the same thing happens
> > when he reads Joyce's Portrait). I'm rereading Lolita for my class and
> > absolutely LOVING this novel - noticing all sorts of little details I've
> > missed (or forgotten) in past readings. This wasn't the case last year
> > when I read it; I felt a bit bored by everything.
> >
> >
> >
> > This makes me wonder WHY I have these varying responses to a novel that
I
> > fundamentally do appreciate. I haven't reread The Real Life of
Sebastian
> > Knight recently, which was always a favorite of mine as an undergrad and
> > grad, but I wonder if I'd like that less.
> >
> >
> >
> > Does anyone else have a comparable "love-hate" relationship with a
> > Nabokov novel? If so, has anyone given much thought or whitespace to
> > thinking or writing about this?
> >
> >
> >
> > I do think my excitement about the novel is in part due to reading it
> > alongside Reading Lolita in Tehran, which has reinvigorated my sense of
> > the novel especially at the school where I teach.
> >
> >
> >
> > MC
> >
> >
>
> http://www.windriverpress.com/titles/studyofsleep.html
> http://www.tobypress.com/books/dance_geometry.htm
> http://www.elasticpress.com/sound_of_white_ants.htm
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail.fm - And now for something completely different.
>