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Re: JF to CHW re American v. European, aristocracy,
and theories but not Theory
and theories but not Theory
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JF: [snip]> This comment appeared in Wikipedia:
> H. L. > Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every > pulse-beat." > This led on more page-flipping in pursuit of Mencken,..
> Looking at Sandburg’s poem Chicago I felt that it expressed > everything that
> I would regard as truly American: even more American than April in
> Arizona.
JM: I couldn't ascertain at first who, besides Nabokov, used "as American as April in Arizona": was it JF himself, did it come from the article in Wikipedia?. I googled and was barred to access to the article by SES:
"April in Arizona": Nabokov as an American Writer
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
American Literary History, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 325-335
I have the impression that initially, not so long ago, one could reach information more rapidly and openly, when using the Google, than it is possible now, since we are often simply taken to the closed doors of various institutions. Does this fit into our considerations about a new kind, perhaps an indispensable one, of "elitism"?
Perhaps, if our discussion continues along these lines, we could start by agreeing on a common definition for "elite", "flatness" and "hierarchy".
In one way or another, as a stranger to North American and North European shores, I have been submerged by a nationalistic perspective that robs me of my "common-reader's" feeling of Nabokov's "universal appeal" ( or could I say "universality/'?) - and this is not a complaint, although I also cannot find words to describe what it is.
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> H. L. > Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every > pulse-beat." > This led on more page-flipping in pursuit of Mencken,..
> Looking at Sandburg’s poem Chicago I felt that it expressed > everything that
> I would regard as truly American: even more American than April in
> Arizona.
JM: I couldn't ascertain at first who, besides Nabokov, used "as American as April in Arizona": was it JF himself, did it come from the article in Wikipedia?. I googled and was barred to access to the article by SES:
"April in Arizona": Nabokov as an American Writer
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
American Literary History, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 325-335
I have the impression that initially, not so long ago, one could reach information more rapidly and openly, when using the Google, than it is possible now, since we are often simply taken to the closed doors of various institutions. Does this fit into our considerations about a new kind, perhaps an indispensable one, of "elitism"?
Perhaps, if our discussion continues along these lines, we could start by agreeing on a common definition for "elite", "flatness" and "hierarchy".
In one way or another, as a stranger to North American and North European shores, I have been submerged by a nationalistic perspective that robs me of my "common-reader's" feeling of Nabokov's "universal appeal" ( or could I say "universality/'?) - and this is not a complaint, although I also cannot find words to describe what it is.
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