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Re: Fwd: Nabokov and Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
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Dear Annalisa,
I´ve just been leafing thru "Strong Opinions" where there are sparse
references to JJ and I´m not too busy now, so I´ll copy one or two here (
you have certainly read VN´s Lecture on Ulysses...)
This scrap ot a sentence almost certainly applies to FW (SO, 30): "We think
not in words but in shadows of words. James Joyce´s mistake in those
otherwise marvelous mental soliloquies of his consists in tht he gives too
much verbal body to his thoughts"
SO,71 : My first real contact with Ulysses, after a leering glimpse in the
early twenties, was in the thirties at a time when I was definitely formed
as a criter and immune to any literary influence. I studies Ulysses
seriously only much later, in the fifties, when preparing my Cornell
courses. That was the best part of the education I received at Cornell.
Ulysses towers over the rest of Joyce´s writings, and in comparison to its
noble originality and unique lucidity of thought and style the unfortunate
Finnegans Wake is nothing but a formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a
cold pudding of a book, a persistent snore in the next room, most
aggravating to the insomniac I am. Moreover, I always detested regional
literature full of quaint old-timers and imitated pronunciation. Finnegan´s
Wake façade disguises a very conventional and drab tenement house, and only
the infrequent snatches of heavenly intonations redeem it from utter
insipidity. I know I am going to be excommunicated for this pronouncement.
SO,74: Another question here by Alfred Appel Jr. and the answer: I finished
Finnegan´s Wake eventually. It has no innter connection with Pale Fire.
etc...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2005 3:46 PM
Subject: Fwd: Nabokov and Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
> Hello list,
> I am working on a comparison between Nabokov's Pale Fire and Joyce's
> Finnegans Wake. I remember that once I read Nabokov's negative opinion on
FW
> (although he mentions it in Pale Fire) , while he appreciated Ulysses.
Does
> anybody have the precise quotation from Nabokov or at least the
> bibliographical reference?
>
> Thank you,
> Annalisa
>
> P.S. This is the first time I write to the Nabokov Forum, so forgive me if
> my request is inappropriate:)
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
>
>
----- End forwarded message -----
I´ve just been leafing thru "Strong Opinions" where there are sparse
references to JJ and I´m not too busy now, so I´ll copy one or two here (
you have certainly read VN´s Lecture on Ulysses...)
This scrap ot a sentence almost certainly applies to FW (SO, 30): "We think
not in words but in shadows of words. James Joyce´s mistake in those
otherwise marvelous mental soliloquies of his consists in tht he gives too
much verbal body to his thoughts"
SO,71 : My first real contact with Ulysses, after a leering glimpse in the
early twenties, was in the thirties at a time when I was definitely formed
as a criter and immune to any literary influence. I studies Ulysses
seriously only much later, in the fifties, when preparing my Cornell
courses. That was the best part of the education I received at Cornell.
Ulysses towers over the rest of Joyce´s writings, and in comparison to its
noble originality and unique lucidity of thought and style the unfortunate
Finnegans Wake is nothing but a formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a
cold pudding of a book, a persistent snore in the next room, most
aggravating to the insomniac I am. Moreover, I always detested regional
literature full of quaint old-timers and imitated pronunciation. Finnegan´s
Wake façade disguises a very conventional and drab tenement house, and only
the infrequent snatches of heavenly intonations redeem it from utter
insipidity. I know I am going to be excommunicated for this pronouncement.
SO,74: Another question here by Alfred Appel Jr. and the answer: I finished
Finnegan´s Wake eventually. It has no innter connection with Pale Fire.
etc...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2005 3:46 PM
Subject: Fwd: Nabokov and Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
> Hello list,
> I am working on a comparison between Nabokov's Pale Fire and Joyce's
> Finnegans Wake. I remember that once I read Nabokov's negative opinion on
FW
> (although he mentions it in Pale Fire) , while he appreciated Ulysses.
Does
> anybody have the precise quotation from Nabokov or at least the
> bibliographical reference?
>
> Thank you,
> Annalisa
>
> P.S. This is the first time I write to the Nabokov Forum, so forgive me if
> my request is inappropriate:)
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
>
>
----- End forwarded message -----