Subject
In defense of Lorrie Moore
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Date
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Hello all,
Lorrie Moore wrote "Referential" openly as a tribute to
Nabokov. Simultaneously, she published "Wings" in The Paris Review's recent
200th issue, inspired by Henry James. She explains this in a Q&A on The New
Yorker's site:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/this-week-in-fiction-lorrie-moore.html
She also says that she does not intend to write any further "tributes."
What has been called a copy-cat or plagiarism here on Nabokov-L is really
just a fairly standard artistic tribute. Just as musicians play the work of
another, just as Ulysses was based on the Odyssey, Rent based on La Boheme,
and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings based on Der Ring Des Nibelungen, which was
based on mythology before that.
Furthermore, Ms. Moore has been one of America's most gifted writers for
almost three decades. Her short story collections Self-Help and Birds of
America are widely considered to be in the highest echelons of contemporary
U.S. writing. Her most recent novel, A Gate at the Stairs, is an extremely
impressive work. She is a regular contributor to the New York Review of
Books. She is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In other
words, she is no hack.
One may certainly object to Ms. Moore's story on aesthetic grounds if they
wish ( I personally found her story a charming reworking of Nabokov's tale
and not at all offensive to the original "Signs and Symbols"), but to
suggest that the New Yorker is guilty of publishing plagiarized work is
absurd, and to accuse Ms. Moore of writing the same is libelous.
Thank you,
Samuel Newhouse
Google Search the
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Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
Lorrie Moore wrote "Referential" openly as a tribute to
Nabokov. Simultaneously, she published "Wings" in The Paris Review's recent
200th issue, inspired by Henry James. She explains this in a Q&A on The New
Yorker's site:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/this-week-in-fiction-lorrie-moore.html
She also says that she does not intend to write any further "tributes."
What has been called a copy-cat or plagiarism here on Nabokov-L is really
just a fairly standard artistic tribute. Just as musicians play the work of
another, just as Ulysses was based on the Odyssey, Rent based on La Boheme,
and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings based on Der Ring Des Nibelungen, which was
based on mythology before that.
Furthermore, Ms. Moore has been one of America's most gifted writers for
almost three decades. Her short story collections Self-Help and Birds of
America are widely considered to be in the highest echelons of contemporary
U.S. writing. Her most recent novel, A Gate at the Stairs, is an extremely
impressive work. She is a regular contributor to the New York Review of
Books. She is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In other
words, she is no hack.
One may certainly object to Ms. Moore's story on aesthetic grounds if they
wish ( I personally found her story a charming reworking of Nabokov's tale
and not at all offensive to the original "Signs and Symbols"), but to
suggest that the New Yorker is guilty of publishing plagiarized work is
absurd, and to accuse Ms. Moore of writing the same is libelous.
Thank you,
Samuel Newhouse
Google Search the
archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en>
Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com/> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/> Visit AdaOnline<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> View
> NSJ Ada Annotations <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> Temporary
> L-Soft Search the archive<https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L&X=58B9943B29972AFF64&Y=nabokv-l%40utk.edu>
> All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/