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Re: Twiggs Pale Fire essay
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In spite of Mr. Twiggs' eloquent essay, I cannot bring myself to
believe the Shade poem is a piece of deliberate kitsch. And I feel
that the general strategy of testing a poem by its potential to
produce laughter is a faulty one. I have heard the Lady MacBeth "out
out, damned spot" speech declaimed to great comic effect, but this
does not lead me to believe that Shakespeare was writing either
satire or bad poetry. The expression of any strong or eccentric
feeling can always be rendered laughable. I could easily imagine
scoffing, for example, at this convoluted sentence, product of
another of VN's unreliable narrators--yet I believe it is intended
seriously (and I quite like it): "I know that the common pebble you
find in your fist after having thrust your arm shoulder deep into
water, where a jewel seemed to gleam on pale sand, is really the
coveted gem though it looks like a pebble as it dries in the sun of
the everyday." Similarly, I believe that Shade's poem has genuine
merit, though it may seem common kitsch when exposed to the eye of
ridicule.
Let me add that I am enjoying the discussion, and am trying to keep
an open mind.
Jamie McEwan
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believe the Shade poem is a piece of deliberate kitsch. And I feel
that the general strategy of testing a poem by its potential to
produce laughter is a faulty one. I have heard the Lady MacBeth "out
out, damned spot" speech declaimed to great comic effect, but this
does not lead me to believe that Shakespeare was writing either
satire or bad poetry. The expression of any strong or eccentric
feeling can always be rendered laughable. I could easily imagine
scoffing, for example, at this convoluted sentence, product of
another of VN's unreliable narrators--yet I believe it is intended
seriously (and I quite like it): "I know that the common pebble you
find in your fist after having thrust your arm shoulder deep into
water, where a jewel seemed to gleam on pale sand, is really the
coveted gem though it looks like a pebble as it dries in the sun of
the everyday." Similarly, I believe that Shade's poem has genuine
merit, though it may seem common kitsch when exposed to the eye of
ridicule.
Let me add that I am enjoying the discussion, and am trying to keep
an open mind.
Jamie McEwan
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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