Subject
Comments on NY Times Review: Nabokov's Butterflies
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: <Mvoscol@aol.com>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (28
lines) ------------------
> Thus far I have seen only two reviews of Boyd/Pyle's "Nabokov's
Butterflies",
> one in the Daily Telegraph (London) and the one in the New York Times
kindly
> supplied by Kurt Johnson. These reviews have two things in common: they
are
> shortish and less than enthusiastic. And I think this should not come as
> much of a surprise. What is the general reader to make of the book?
Pages
> upon pages of quotations from VN's published works ripped from their
> contexts, scientific writings that would be of no interest whatsoever to
the
> common reader had they been written by someone other than VN. Although
one
> might admire all the diligence and enthusiasm that went into the
preparation
> of VN's scientific papers and his meticulous drawings I doubt whether this
> will make "Nabokov's Butterflies" a runaway bestseller. How about the
> "non-scientific" content? A good deal of that is composed of recycled
> extracts from books I have on my shelves anyway. What remains is the
> hitherto unpublished (non-scientific) material like the discarded second
> addendum to "The Gift", some previously unpublished poems or poems not
> reprinted after their first publications (unfortunately not with the
original
> Russian en regard), excerpts from letters etc. $45 is quite a price to pay
> for the privilege to have those. Moreover, the book is, in my opinion,
not
> really attractive physically. A heavy tome uncomfortable to read in bed,
> with wasteful margins, with photographs in the text not terribly well
> reproduced, with notes that are endnotes when they should be footnotes
etc.
> Apparently the major publishing conglomerates fought shy of this
compilation
> (although the book has been bought in by Viking-Penguin's Bodley Head
imprint
> in the United Kingdom). (I had never heard of "Beacon Press" before.)
No,
> "Nabokov's Butterflies" is strictly for enthusiasts and completists.
> "Nabobov's chess" next?
>
> Manfred Voss
From: <Mvoscol@aol.com>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (28
lines) ------------------
> Thus far I have seen only two reviews of Boyd/Pyle's "Nabokov's
Butterflies",
> one in the Daily Telegraph (London) and the one in the New York Times
kindly
> supplied by Kurt Johnson. These reviews have two things in common: they
are
> shortish and less than enthusiastic. And I think this should not come as
> much of a surprise. What is the general reader to make of the book?
Pages
> upon pages of quotations from VN's published works ripped from their
> contexts, scientific writings that would be of no interest whatsoever to
the
> common reader had they been written by someone other than VN. Although
one
> might admire all the diligence and enthusiasm that went into the
preparation
> of VN's scientific papers and his meticulous drawings I doubt whether this
> will make "Nabokov's Butterflies" a runaway bestseller. How about the
> "non-scientific" content? A good deal of that is composed of recycled
> extracts from books I have on my shelves anyway. What remains is the
> hitherto unpublished (non-scientific) material like the discarded second
> addendum to "The Gift", some previously unpublished poems or poems not
> reprinted after their first publications (unfortunately not with the
original
> Russian en regard), excerpts from letters etc. $45 is quite a price to pay
> for the privilege to have those. Moreover, the book is, in my opinion,
not
> really attractive physically. A heavy tome uncomfortable to read in bed,
> with wasteful margins, with photographs in the text not terribly well
> reproduced, with notes that are endnotes when they should be footnotes
etc.
> Apparently the major publishing conglomerates fought shy of this
compilation
> (although the book has been bought in by Viking-Penguin's Bodley Head
imprint
> in the United Kingdom). (I had never heard of "Beacon Press" before.)
No,
> "Nabokov's Butterflies" is strictly for enthusiasts and completists.
> "Nabobov's chess" next?
>
> Manfred Voss