Subject
Re: they shoot horses, don't they?
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Date
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Dear Carolyn,
Although I don¹t feel any danger of confusing myself with Nabokov, I can
identify with him both as a fellow writer, and -- as he was when he lectured
on Stevenson -- a mature adult of about fifty years.
Much as I admire VN¹s literary art, I don¹t feel constrained to adopt all
his preferences. I¹ve never been much impressed by Dead Souls, but Madame
Bovary is a masterpiece, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde isn¹t. It¹s a great
story but, as I wrote last night, it¹s nowhere near The Death of Ivan Ilich
when considered as a precursor to Pale Fire.
All the best,
Andrew Brown
On 10/10/06 12:14 AM, "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> Dear Andrew,
>
> At the risk of flogging a dying horse, let me say that you continue to confuse
> VN with AB. VN was a mature adult of about fifty years when he wrote his
> lecture on J & H and his opinion at that time was that the story was of the
> "same order of art as Madame Bovary and Dead Souls." This can hardly be the
> result of "boyhood reading."
>
> A versipel is not "a beast" at all. Neither is it a word invented by VN as
> someone else suggested. You will find it in "his" dictionary (Webster's 3rd).
> It is a generic term for beings that change their nature, from human to animal
> only for example, as a werewolf. It is a creature that has a double nature. It
> is not necessarily evil or even necessarily demonic. It is a synonym of
> "changeling" - - the same word in Latin dress.
>
> Carolyn
>
>
>
> Search the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
> <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html>
> Contact the Editors <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
> Visit Zembla <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm>
> View Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm>
>
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
Although I don¹t feel any danger of confusing myself with Nabokov, I can
identify with him both as a fellow writer, and -- as he was when he lectured
on Stevenson -- a mature adult of about fifty years.
Much as I admire VN¹s literary art, I don¹t feel constrained to adopt all
his preferences. I¹ve never been much impressed by Dead Souls, but Madame
Bovary is a masterpiece, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde isn¹t. It¹s a great
story but, as I wrote last night, it¹s nowhere near The Death of Ivan Ilich
when considered as a precursor to Pale Fire.
All the best,
Andrew Brown
On 10/10/06 12:14 AM, "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> Dear Andrew,
>
> At the risk of flogging a dying horse, let me say that you continue to confuse
> VN with AB. VN was a mature adult of about fifty years when he wrote his
> lecture on J & H and his opinion at that time was that the story was of the
> "same order of art as Madame Bovary and Dead Souls." This can hardly be the
> result of "boyhood reading."
>
> A versipel is not "a beast" at all. Neither is it a word invented by VN as
> someone else suggested. You will find it in "his" dictionary (Webster's 3rd).
> It is a generic term for beings that change their nature, from human to animal
> only for example, as a werewolf. It is a creature that has a double nature. It
> is not necessarily evil or even necessarily demonic. It is a synonym of
> "changeling" - - the same word in Latin dress.
>
> Carolyn
>
>
>
> Search the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
> <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html>
> Contact the Editors <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
> Visit Zembla <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm>
> View Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm>
>
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