-------- Original Message --------
Dear List,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/college/coll16anno.html
>>> You've Read the Novels (Now Read the Footnotes)
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: March 16, 2007 <<<
Interesting article, but I'm displeased with the 3
aspects.
1. >>> explaining what, in most cases, needs no
explanation.
No way. Most of the notes by Appel are helpful.
2. >>> Unwittingly he does an uncanny impression of
Charles Kinbote,
Nothing "unwitting" about it. Appel repeatedly
compares himself to Kinbote.
3. >>> Nabokov ... went on to perform an Olympian
feat of annotation (of Onegin)
VN's Onegin annotation (1964) came BEFORE [Annotated
Lolita] (1970).
Henry.Hanada
__________________________________
from The 2 paragraphs on Appel and Nabokov
>>>
[The Annotated Lolita]
Alfred Appel Jr., a worshipful Nabokovian, plods
through the text, explaining what, in most cases,
needs no explanation. Unwittingly he does an uncanny
impression of Charles Kinbote, the mad annotator whose
scholarly notes take over the narrative poem in
Nabokov's "Pale Fire" like a parasite consuming its
host.
Nabokov, as it happens, went on to perform an Olympian
feat of annotation in his mammoth translation of
"Eugene Onegin," with three volumes of notes to one
of text. Many of the notes address precisely the kind
of questions that "The Annotated Pride and
Prejudice" deals with. For anyone curious about the
rules of engagement when Lensky and Onegin face off in
their duel, Nabokov goes into all the details.
<<<
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/college/coll16anno.html