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Of all the authors in all the world to attempt a lecture on...
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Dear List
All these various waves about how to pronounce Nabokov remind me of a
lecture I went to last year held by the Royal Society of Literature in
London. I should have written to the List at the time, but I thought the
lecture was so god-awful that I hesitated in spitting too much unnecessary
rancour out into cyberspace. The, in my opinion, truly overrated Zadie Smith
had decided to talk about Pnin. Her preamble opened with: "There are many
ways of pronouncing Nabokov." Hmm. Funny. I thought there was only one. "And
I have chosen." She listed some 'alternatives' and proceeded rather
haughtily to inform the audience that she had chosen 'Naba-cough'. Ms Smith
then read out from a prepared bunch of papers for 40 minutes in a
mind-numbing monotone. By her own admission Ms Smith is not a Russian
speaker nor does she have knowledge of any foreign language which showed up
as a substantial impediment to her 'approach' to Nabokov (this may seem
obvious, but I hadn't realised quite how much it really means).
Suffice to say that her lecture seemed to contain such statements as to cast
doubt on whether she really understood some of the 'basics' of Nabokov.
I know I was not alone as the first person to raise his hand in the Q&A
session at the end started:
"You know, I couldn't have disagreed with you more if you'd said that
Nabokov was a Spanish pilot."
After a couple of further questioners who disagreed with her Ms Smith did
cave in and admit that she was "so not an expert on Nabokov". One wonders
then what she was doing there and why she was charging an entrance fee.
Sincerely
TA Colquhoun
Search <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html> the Nabokv-L
archive at UCSB
Contact <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> the Editors
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
All these various waves about how to pronounce Nabokov remind me of a
lecture I went to last year held by the Royal Society of Literature in
London. I should have written to the List at the time, but I thought the
lecture was so god-awful that I hesitated in spitting too much unnecessary
rancour out into cyberspace. The, in my opinion, truly overrated Zadie Smith
had decided to talk about Pnin. Her preamble opened with: "There are many
ways of pronouncing Nabokov." Hmm. Funny. I thought there was only one. "And
I have chosen." She listed some 'alternatives' and proceeded rather
haughtily to inform the audience that she had chosen 'Naba-cough'. Ms Smith
then read out from a prepared bunch of papers for 40 minutes in a
mind-numbing monotone. By her own admission Ms Smith is not a Russian
speaker nor does she have knowledge of any foreign language which showed up
as a substantial impediment to her 'approach' to Nabokov (this may seem
obvious, but I hadn't realised quite how much it really means).
Suffice to say that her lecture seemed to contain such statements as to cast
doubt on whether she really understood some of the 'basics' of Nabokov.
I know I was not alone as the first person to raise his hand in the Q&A
session at the end started:
"You know, I couldn't have disagreed with you more if you'd said that
Nabokov was a Spanish pilot."
After a couple of further questioners who disagreed with her Ms Smith did
cave in and admit that she was "so not an expert on Nabokov". One wonders
then what she was doing there and why she was charging an entrance fee.
Sincerely
TA Colquhoun
Search <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html> the Nabokv-L
archive at UCSB
Contact <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> the Editors
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