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Fw: Dale Peck---drop half of Faulkner and Nabokov from the canon
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----- Original Message -----
From: Rodney Welch
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 10:11 AM
Subject: Re: Dale Peck---drop half of Faulkner and Nabokov from the canon
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I guess the question is: what is "canonical" where Nabokov is concerned, and which half is Peck referring to? The general consensus among those of us here, I'm guessing, would be that Nabokov's masterpieces are The Defense, Invitation to a Beheading, The Gift, Speak, Memory, Pnin, Lolita, Pale Fire, Ada, and maybe a select group of the stories. Harold Bloom selected only Lolita and Pale Fire for his Western Canon; Nabokov himself said (if I recall correctly) that he'd only be remembered for Lolita and his translation of Eugene Onegin. Where does Nabokov generally stand in academia nowadays -- has he been crowded out by all the Fulmerfords?
Rodney Welch
Columbia, SC
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EDNOTE. I suppose it depends on which academiac you ask. In my highly prejudiced take he is up there with Joyce.