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Fw: bbc: the big read -- where's nabokov?
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Basil Lawrence" <hhumbert@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (18
lines) ------------------
> the results are in for _the big read_, the bbc's competition to find the
> uk's best-loved book ("the country's biggest ever celebration of the magic
> of reading").
>
> unfortunately nabokov is not on the list:
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml
> and
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100_2.shtml
>
> perhaps we should take heart that nabokov came in at 31 in the top 100
> books of the century (organised by waterstones booksellers in 1997):
>
> http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Bookmark/1997/March/top100.asp
>
> i've almost convinced myself that it's because the search is for best-
> loved (sentimental and safe...), as opposed to best.
-------------------------------
EDNOTE. I'm not terribly surprized. Nabokov has never been very big in
England. Although there has been some excellent British VN scholarship, I
suspect the critical concensus is that marvellous British damnation with
faint praise "too clever by half."
From: "Basil Lawrence" <hhumbert@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (18
lines) ------------------
> the results are in for _the big read_, the bbc's competition to find the
> uk's best-loved book ("the country's biggest ever celebration of the magic
> of reading").
>
> unfortunately nabokov is not on the list:
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml
> and
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100_2.shtml
>
> perhaps we should take heart that nabokov came in at 31 in the top 100
> books of the century (organised by waterstones booksellers in 1997):
>
> http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Bookmark/1997/March/top100.asp
>
> i've almost convinced myself that it's because the search is for best-
> loved (sentimental and safe...), as opposed to best.
-------------------------------
EDNOTE. I'm not terribly surprized. Nabokov has never been very big in
England. Although there has been some excellent British VN scholarship, I
suspect the critical concensus is that marvellous British damnation with
faint praise "too clever by half."