Subject
Fw: Prose Styles
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EDNOTE: Comparison of the prose styles is difficult to do in any rigorous
way but would be well worth the effort. Comparisons invited.
---------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Veitch" <james.veitch@btopenworld.com>
.
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (85
lines) ------------------
> Dear All,
>
> Concerning prose styles, I've just completed my dissertation upon multiple
> levels of perception in 'Lolita,' 'Pale Fire' and 'The Real Life of
> Sebastian Knight,' and while researching I came across these gems written
on
> 'Lolita:'
>
>
> No extract[...] could do justice to the sustained din of pun, allusion,
> neologism, alliteration, cynghanedd, apostrophe, parenthesis, rhetorical
> question. French, Latin, anent, perchance, would fain, for the nonce -
here
> is style and no mistake. One will be told, of course, that this is the
> 'whole point,' that this is the hero, Humbert Humbert, talking in his own
> person, not the author, and that what we are getting is
'characterisation.'
> All right' but it seems ill-advised to characterise logomania by making it
> talk 120,000 words at us, and a glance at Nabokov's last novel, 'Pnin,'
> which is not written in the first person, establishes that this is Nabokov
> talking.
> Kingsley Amis, 'Spectator,' in 'Nabokov: The Critical Heritage,' p.
104-105
>
> and then this!
>
> But Humbert's mannered, sophisticated, intellectually clowning style (and
> one calls it Humbert's rather than Nabokov's because comparison with the
> style of 'Speak Memory' and 'Pnin' shows that it is a conscious device on
> the author's part.
> Walter Allen, 'New Statesman,' in 'Nabokov: The Critical Heritage,108
>
>
> Amis's entire review is a bit of a giggle; at one point he complains that
> everyone talks like Humbert, 'the murderee is Humbert all over again,
> Humbert's old queer pall is Humbert and unnecessary, Lolita's mother talks
> like Humbert.' entirely missing that events have been filtered through
> Humbert twice over and moreover that 'Lolita' can be read as G.D.
Josipovici
> points out, 'Oamong other things, an exercise in its own interpretation.
>
> I agree, it would be very interesting to read a study comparing prose
> styles. To some extent was VN not creating a character when he wrote
'Speak
> Memory.' Also, why was it called 'an autobiography revisited?' I'd be
> interested to hear everyone's ideas.
>
> Best Wishes
> This was my first post.
> James Veitch
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Discobolus" <tom@discobolus.co.za>
> >>
> >> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (25
> > lines) ------------------
> >>
> >> Dear List,
> >>
> >> With regard to tackling "Pale Fire" for the first time, my own
experience
> > was delightful. Perched on the edge of the bed at
> >> 10 pm one night, I was rocking a fretful baby in a wicker cradle. I
picked
> > up the book and was entranced. Next thing I
> >> knew, the baby was fast asleep, I was rocking him intermittently and
> > absent-mindedly, the sun was coming up and the
> >> novel had been wolfed in a single sitting. Of course, I missed a lot;
> > reading Brian Boyd 23 years later sent me back for
> >> several further readings. But nothing matches that first magic
impression
> > of the labyrinth that VN had created for me. It
> >> made me forever impervious to anything his detractors may say.
> >>
> >> Just a thought: has anyone ever done a study comparing the prose styles
of
> > Van Veen, Humbert and Kinbote with that
> >> of VN himself in "Speak Memory" ? My impression is that he used a
very
> > loose rein in creating the characters, but was
> >> much less flamboyant when writing as himself.
> >>
> >> Regards
> >> Tom Rymour
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
way but would be well worth the effort. Comparisons invited.
---------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Veitch" <james.veitch@btopenworld.com>
.
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (85
lines) ------------------
> Dear All,
>
> Concerning prose styles, I've just completed my dissertation upon multiple
> levels of perception in 'Lolita,' 'Pale Fire' and 'The Real Life of
> Sebastian Knight,' and while researching I came across these gems written
on
> 'Lolita:'
>
>
> No extract[...] could do justice to the sustained din of pun, allusion,
> neologism, alliteration, cynghanedd, apostrophe, parenthesis, rhetorical
> question. French, Latin, anent, perchance, would fain, for the nonce -
here
> is style and no mistake. One will be told, of course, that this is the
> 'whole point,' that this is the hero, Humbert Humbert, talking in his own
> person, not the author, and that what we are getting is
'characterisation.'
> All right' but it seems ill-advised to characterise logomania by making it
> talk 120,000 words at us, and a glance at Nabokov's last novel, 'Pnin,'
> which is not written in the first person, establishes that this is Nabokov
> talking.
> Kingsley Amis, 'Spectator,' in 'Nabokov: The Critical Heritage,' p.
104-105
>
> and then this!
>
> But Humbert's mannered, sophisticated, intellectually clowning style (and
> one calls it Humbert's rather than Nabokov's because comparison with the
> style of 'Speak Memory' and 'Pnin' shows that it is a conscious device on
> the author's part.
> Walter Allen, 'New Statesman,' in 'Nabokov: The Critical Heritage,108
>
>
> Amis's entire review is a bit of a giggle; at one point he complains that
> everyone talks like Humbert, 'the murderee is Humbert all over again,
> Humbert's old queer pall is Humbert and unnecessary, Lolita's mother talks
> like Humbert.' entirely missing that events have been filtered through
> Humbert twice over and moreover that 'Lolita' can be read as G.D.
Josipovici
> points out, 'Oamong other things, an exercise in its own interpretation.
>
> I agree, it would be very interesting to read a study comparing prose
> styles. To some extent was VN not creating a character when he wrote
'Speak
> Memory.' Also, why was it called 'an autobiography revisited?' I'd be
> interested to hear everyone's ideas.
>
> Best Wishes
> This was my first post.
> James Veitch
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Discobolus" <tom@discobolus.co.za>
> >>
> >> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (25
> > lines) ------------------
> >>
> >> Dear List,
> >>
> >> With regard to tackling "Pale Fire" for the first time, my own
experience
> > was delightful. Perched on the edge of the bed at
> >> 10 pm one night, I was rocking a fretful baby in a wicker cradle. I
picked
> > up the book and was entranced. Next thing I
> >> knew, the baby was fast asleep, I was rocking him intermittently and
> > absent-mindedly, the sun was coming up and the
> >> novel had been wolfed in a single sitting. Of course, I missed a lot;
> > reading Brian Boyd 23 years later sent me back for
> >> several further readings. But nothing matches that first magic
impression
> > of the labyrinth that VN had created for me. It
> >> made me forever impervious to anything his detractors may say.
> >>
> >> Just a thought: has anyone ever done a study comparing the prose styles
of
> > Van Veen, Humbert and Kinbote with that
> >> of VN himself in "Speak Memory" ? My impression is that he used a
very
> > loose rein in creating the characters, but was
> >> much less flamboyant when writing as himself.
> >>
> >> Regards
> >> Tom Rymour
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>