In the end, I could not resist a personal list:
Greatest fictional character, for depth, breadth and truth: Leopold Bloom
Greatest fictional ensemble: Anna Karenina
Greatest fictional character, for fascination: Hamlet? Falstaff? Humbert?
Greatest fictional character, per word count: Viola? Malvolio?
Greatest fictional character, for memorability: Miss Havisham? (or other Dickens characters) Aguirre? (or other Kinski roles)
Greatest semi-fictional character: Henry James (Tóibín’s
The Master)
Greatest Nabokovian fictional character: Luzhin? Fyodor? Count Godunov? Humbert? Lolita? Pnin? Kinbote? Shade? Van? Ada? Lucette?
Brian Boyd
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Greatest Fictional Character
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 04:14:35 +0000
From: Don Stanley <Dstanley@TRU.CA>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Hi All
Five greatest fictional characters by (some of the) writers Nabokov was not fond of:
Marlow from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Lena Grove from Faulkner’s Light in August
Francis Macomber from Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of…
J. Alfred Prufrock from T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of…
The Beast from Henry James’ “The Beast in the Jungle” (Monster Category)
All the best
DrDHStanley
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