Subject
Re: Nabokovs brain is shaped like a helter-skelter ...
From
Date
Body
To Sandy Drescher
I would not take too much notice of what Zadie Smith says about VN. Its
abject nonsense. She might as well have said that Nabokovs brain is the
shape of a hat stand.
As I posted here some time ago, I went to a 'lecture Zadie Smith gave on
Nabokov at the Royal Society of Literature and it was a shambles
Tina Colquhoun
To the List:
This is aninteresting article. Smith's view of fiction seems antithetical to
that of VNN.
But my question is:
Main Entry: 2helter-skelter
Function: noun
1:a disorderly confusion :TURMOIL
2British :a spiral slide around a tower at an amusement park
Which does she mean?
Sandy Drescher
On Tuesday, January 23, 2007, at 05:08 PM, Sandy P. Klein wrote:
<image.tiff>
http://januarymagazine.com/2007/01/fail-better.html
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Fail Better
<image.tiff>ì... somewhere between a criticís necessary superficiality and a
writerís natural dishonesty, the truth of how we judge literary success or
failure is lost.î
In a two article series for The Guardian, Zadie Smith (White Teeth, On
Beauty) doesnít pull any literary punches. Smithís lengthy, two-part piece
is wonderful, managing as it does to be both accessible (ìThatís how young
readers are, too, when they start out. They are doubters and seekers.î) and
urbane (She quotes both Kierkegaard and Nobokov while somehow never losing
her of-the-reading-masses tone).
I have said that when I open a book I feel the shape of another human
beingís brain. To me, Nabokovís brain is shaped like a helter-skelter.
George Eliotís is like one of those pans for sifting gold. Austenís
resembles one of the glass flowers you find in Harvardís Natural History
Museum.
Thereís so much here that is terrific, the temptation is just to quote and
quote and quote: most of what Smith shares in the space is worth repeating.
But Iíll save both of us the effort: part one is here, put two is here.
Savor it for yourself.
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