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Houellebecq novel: Nabokov a "mediocre and mannered pseudo-poet"
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EDNOTE. Yannicke Chupin sends notice of John Updike's review of Michel
Houellebecq's recent science-fiction novel, The Possibility of an
Island, in the current issue of the New Yorker. The novel features a
protagonist whose erotic taste "verges on pedophilia," according to
Updike. He adores teenaged girls but disdains children and dwarves. He
also has strong opinions about literature: "The despiser of dwarves
doesn't love giants,
either, at least literary ones: Shakespeare is a 'sad fool,' James Joyce
'an insane Irishman' who wrote 'ponderous prose,' and Vladimir Nabokov a
'mediocre and mannered pseudo-poet' whose style resembles a 'collapsed
pastry.'" -- SES
Here's a link to the entire review:
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/
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
Houellebecq's recent science-fiction novel, The Possibility of an
Island, in the current issue of the New Yorker. The novel features a
protagonist whose erotic taste "verges on pedophilia," according to
Updike. He adores teenaged girls but disdains children and dwarves. He
also has strong opinions about literature: "The despiser of dwarves
doesn't love giants,
either, at least literary ones: Shakespeare is a 'sad fool,' James Joyce
'an insane Irishman' who wrote 'ponderous prose,' and Vladimir Nabokov a
'mediocre and mannered pseudo-poet' whose style resembles a 'collapsed
pastry.'" -- SES
Here's a link to the entire review:
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/
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