On 9/11/06 22:14, "NABOKV-L" <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
Dear Sam.
I would like to see somewhat shorter notes - - as a member I don't have to
read everything that comes to me, but our poor ed.s do.
Personally when I see a note that goes on and on usually in very small type,
I don't even bother and I doubt I am unanimous in this.
Carolyn Kunin
Carolyn: when I saw Sam’s email urging a reduction in the list’s traffic, I guessed from my vast experience that it might well have the opposite effect! Take the response from you and others to Sam, for example, AND MINE TO YOURS (ad astra). Re-font-size, I solve this with a few deft clicks. Re-message-lenghth: “going on and on” (also known as “a thorough and detailed scholarly response!”) is to be expected occasionally given the fact that VN’s own works “go on and on” and cannot always be discussed monosyllabically! We all in our own busy ways (Editors too) learn to scan & browse to judge the gist before wading in above the ankles. With our blessed complement of the planet’s leading Nabokovians (including His Only Begotten Son), I demand MORE not LESS!
PS: Was it not Voltaire (or one of that crowd) who apologised that he was too busy to write a shorter letter?
Stan Kelly-Bootle