Subject
Re: Updike and Nabokov: A Question of Translation (fwd)
Date
Body
Updike would certainly know about
Linotype, since one of his characters
ran a Linotype machine for a living.
The barber's gesture is practiced, and
as mechanical as a reader's automatic
change from the end of one line
to the start of the next one on the
other side of the page.
Curious how interesting and lively
the supposed infelicities remain.
"Eyed shadows move on the garden
paths" has absolute clarity as an
image; Mr. Updike failed to see what
a conventional writer might have
called "the sun-dappled shade."
More shade than dappling, a weird
animistic ruffling, like a peacock's
tail.
Tom Bolt
Linotype, since one of his characters
ran a Linotype machine for a living.
The barber's gesture is practiced, and
as mechanical as a reader's automatic
change from the end of one line
to the start of the next one on the
other side of the page.
Curious how interesting and lively
the supposed infelicities remain.
"Eyed shadows move on the garden
paths" has absolute clarity as an
image; Mr. Updike failed to see what
a conventional writer might have
called "the sun-dappled shade."
More shade than dappling, a weird
animistic ruffling, like a peacock's
tail.
Tom Bolt