Subject
Bookclubs
From
Date
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*This pretty much settles the wager, I believe! GD*
From: D. Walker <dlwalker@u.washington.edu>
VN does "obliquely" rail against bookclubs in his essay
"Philistines and Philistinism" (in *Lectures on Russian Literature*). On
p. 311: "The philistine does not distinguish one writer from another;
indeed, he reads little and only what may be useful to him,
but he may belong to a book club and choose beautiful, (italics) beautiful
(italics) books, a jumble of Simone de Beauvoir, Dostoevski, Marquand,
Somerset Maugham, *Dr. Zhivago*, and Masters of the Renaissance."
Lynne Walker
On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Galya Diment wrote:
> From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
>
> While looking for the book club reference in Strong Opinions, to help out
> our NZ subscriber with his wager, I decided, just for fun, to compile some
> of the things Nabokov rails against there (in addition to the Viennese
> quack, of course):
>
> Nothing bores me more than political novels and the literature of social
> intent... My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty,
> soft music... (3)
>
> I don't belong to any club or group. I don't fish, cook, dance, endorse
> books, sign books, co-sign declarations, eat oysters, get drunk, go to
> church, go to analysts, or take part in demonstrations. (18)
>
> I have never belonged to any political party but have always loathed and
> despised dictatorships and police states (47)
>
> I enjoy retaliating when some pompous dunce finds fault with my
> translations and divulges a farcical ignorance of the Russian language and
> literature. (54)
>
> The Doppelgaenger subject is a frightful bore. (83)
>
> nothing dates quicker than radical youth, nor is there anything more
> Philistine, more bourgeois, more ovine than this business of drug duncery.
> (114)
>
> I loathe popular pulp. I loathe go-go gangs, I loathe jungle music. I
> loathe science fiction with its gals and goons, suspense and suspensories.
> I especially loathe vulgar movies -- cripples raping nuns under tables or
> naked-girl breasts squeezing against the tanned torsos of repulsive young
> males. (117)
>
> I loathe Van Veen. (120)
>
> [I] can't tell a Democrat from a Republican and hate crowds and
> demonstrations. (126)
>
> I abhor the brutality of all brutes, white or black, brown or red. I
> despise red knaves and pink fools. (133)
>
> It is among the young that the greatest conformists and Philistines are
> found, e.g., the hippies with their group beards and group protests.
> Demonstrators at American universities care as little about education as
> football fans who smash up subway stations in England care about soccer.
> (139)
>
> He also rails, as we all know, against Wilson, Dr. Zhivago, jazz -- but,
> alas, no book clubs, unless my cursory re-perusal of SO missed it!
>
> Galya Diment
>
>
>
>
>
> From: ptudor@budfin.co.nz
>
> Some assistance, please, from the list?
>
> Despite his speaking engagements, VN famously had a low opinion of book
> clubs, however where did he rail aginst them in print? Was it in "Strong
> Opinions" or in "Lectures on Literature"? My apologies, this is not
> serious academic query, rather an attempt to settle a small wager...
>
> Paul Tudor Ph 64 9 3587035
> Information Manager Fx 64 9 3582055
> Buddle Findlay Email ptudor@budfin.co.nz
> Level 13, 191-201 Queen St
> P O Box 1433, Auckland
> New Zealand "If you build it, he will come!"
>
From: D. Walker <dlwalker@u.washington.edu>
VN does "obliquely" rail against bookclubs in his essay
"Philistines and Philistinism" (in *Lectures on Russian Literature*). On
p. 311: "The philistine does not distinguish one writer from another;
indeed, he reads little and only what may be useful to him,
but he may belong to a book club and choose beautiful, (italics) beautiful
(italics) books, a jumble of Simone de Beauvoir, Dostoevski, Marquand,
Somerset Maugham, *Dr. Zhivago*, and Masters of the Renaissance."
Lynne Walker
On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Galya Diment wrote:
> From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
>
> While looking for the book club reference in Strong Opinions, to help out
> our NZ subscriber with his wager, I decided, just for fun, to compile some
> of the things Nabokov rails against there (in addition to the Viennese
> quack, of course):
>
> Nothing bores me more than political novels and the literature of social
> intent... My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty,
> soft music... (3)
>
> I don't belong to any club or group. I don't fish, cook, dance, endorse
> books, sign books, co-sign declarations, eat oysters, get drunk, go to
> church, go to analysts, or take part in demonstrations. (18)
>
> I have never belonged to any political party but have always loathed and
> despised dictatorships and police states (47)
>
> I enjoy retaliating when some pompous dunce finds fault with my
> translations and divulges a farcical ignorance of the Russian language and
> literature. (54)
>
> The Doppelgaenger subject is a frightful bore. (83)
>
> nothing dates quicker than radical youth, nor is there anything more
> Philistine, more bourgeois, more ovine than this business of drug duncery.
> (114)
>
> I loathe popular pulp. I loathe go-go gangs, I loathe jungle music. I
> loathe science fiction with its gals and goons, suspense and suspensories.
> I especially loathe vulgar movies -- cripples raping nuns under tables or
> naked-girl breasts squeezing against the tanned torsos of repulsive young
> males. (117)
>
> I loathe Van Veen. (120)
>
> [I] can't tell a Democrat from a Republican and hate crowds and
> demonstrations. (126)
>
> I abhor the brutality of all brutes, white or black, brown or red. I
> despise red knaves and pink fools. (133)
>
> It is among the young that the greatest conformists and Philistines are
> found, e.g., the hippies with their group beards and group protests.
> Demonstrators at American universities care as little about education as
> football fans who smash up subway stations in England care about soccer.
> (139)
>
> He also rails, as we all know, against Wilson, Dr. Zhivago, jazz -- but,
> alas, no book clubs, unless my cursory re-perusal of SO missed it!
>
> Galya Diment
>
>
>
>
>
> From: ptudor@budfin.co.nz
>
> Some assistance, please, from the list?
>
> Despite his speaking engagements, VN famously had a low opinion of book
> clubs, however where did he rail aginst them in print? Was it in "Strong
> Opinions" or in "Lectures on Literature"? My apologies, this is not
> serious academic query, rather an attempt to settle a small wager...
>
> Paul Tudor Ph 64 9 3587035
> Information Manager Fx 64 9 3582055
> Buddle Findlay Email ptudor@budfin.co.nz
> Level 13, 191-201 Queen St
> P O Box 1433, Auckland
> New Zealand "If you build it, he will come!"
>