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Re: VN and Finnegan's Wake (fwd)
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From: Nick Grundy <nmg20@hermes.cam.ac.uk>
>From: Kristin Eliasberg <kristin@pen.org>
>
>Is anyone familiar with the exact wording of VN's description of "Finnegan's
>Wake?"
It's in the 1966 Alfred Appel interview: "Finnegan's Wake is nothing but a
formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a cold pudding of a book, a
persistent snore in the next room, most aggravating to the insomniac I am.
Moreover, I always detested regional literature full of quaint old-timers
and imitated pronunciation. Finnegan's Wake's facade disguises a very
conventional and drab tenement house, and only the infrequent snatches of
heavenly intonations redeem it from utter insipidity. I know I am going to
be excommunicated for this pronouncement."
I'm quoting it from pp.134-5 of Nabokov Studies, ed.L.S.Dembo, but I'm
pretty sure it's in Strong Opinions too.
Cheers,
Nick.
end
:::nmg20@hermes.cam.ac.uk:::01223 561402:::0958 714062::::::
>From: Kristin Eliasberg <kristin@pen.org>
>
>Is anyone familiar with the exact wording of VN's description of "Finnegan's
>Wake?"
It's in the 1966 Alfred Appel interview: "Finnegan's Wake is nothing but a
formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a cold pudding of a book, a
persistent snore in the next room, most aggravating to the insomniac I am.
Moreover, I always detested regional literature full of quaint old-timers
and imitated pronunciation. Finnegan's Wake's facade disguises a very
conventional and drab tenement house, and only the infrequent snatches of
heavenly intonations redeem it from utter insipidity. I know I am going to
be excommunicated for this pronouncement."
I'm quoting it from pp.134-5 of Nabokov Studies, ed.L.S.Dembo, but I'm
pretty sure it's in Strong Opinions too.
Cheers,
Nick.
end
:::nmg20@hermes.cam.ac.uk:::01223 561402:::0958 714062::::::