Subject
Re: Nabokovs brain is shaped like a helter-skelter ...
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Date
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The second. It's a substantive noun in her context, denoting a common
playground item seen all over, for example, London.
On Jan 24, 2007, at 9:15 AM, Alexander Drescher wrote:
> 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.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
Priscilla Meyer
142 Grafton Road
Kentish Town
London NW5 4BA
44-(0)20 7267 2730
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
playground item seen all over, for example, London.
On Jan 24, 2007, at 9:15 AM, Alexander Drescher wrote:
> 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.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
Priscilla Meyer
142 Grafton Road
Kentish Town
London NW5 4BA
44-(0)20 7267 2730
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