Subject
Re: Billboard Magazine: Review of Iron's LOLITA tape (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Thomas E. Braun" <cawriter@sprynet.com>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: ckania@randomhouse.com
>
> This review runs in the May 10th issue of Billboard magazine. I thought the
> remarks made about the audio being improved by being 'abridged'; taking away
> the 'too many tedious, minor details' were a bit uncalled for. Edit Nabokov's
> LOLITA? Opinions?
>
> Best,
>
> Carrie Kania
>
> "LOLITA
> By Vladimir Nabokov
> Read by Jeremy Irons
> Random House AudioBooks
>
> Fresh from his role as Humbert Humbert in the upcoming film version of
> "Lolita", Irons slips back into the role in this first-person audiobook.
> Histour de force performance is not to be missed. In a silky, sinister
voice, he
> brings out all the nuances of the character: pompous and arrogant, calmly
> rational yet obsessed and insane.
It's a fascinating
> listen; however, it would have been improved with some judicious abridgment.
> For example, when Humbert takes Lolita on two cross-country trips, each lasting
> over a year, we get too many tedious, minor details that could easily have been
> edited for this audio version. Likewise, the section of the book in which
> Humbert loses Lolita and spends three years tracking her down could have been
> trimmed substantially.
>
There ARE parts of "Lolita" that are a bit tedious, a bit too recondite
to be fully entertaining. But hey, if you're gonna present an artist's
work, you owe it to the artist to present it AS IS. I am reminded of the
amusing scene in the film "Amadeus," where the Emperor tells Mozart that
his new opera is first-rate, but there are "simply too many notes, young
man. Just remove a few." Mozart's terse reply: "Which few did you have
in mind, your majesty?" When we mortals are sufficiently bright to tell
Mozart and Nabokov which notes/words to remove, we will be creating
works of genius on our own.
Cheers,
Tom Braun
cawriter@sprynet.com
From: "Thomas E. Braun" <cawriter@sprynet.com>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: ckania@randomhouse.com
>
> This review runs in the May 10th issue of Billboard magazine. I thought the
> remarks made about the audio being improved by being 'abridged'; taking away
> the 'too many tedious, minor details' were a bit uncalled for. Edit Nabokov's
> LOLITA? Opinions?
>
> Best,
>
> Carrie Kania
>
> "LOLITA
> By Vladimir Nabokov
> Read by Jeremy Irons
> Random House AudioBooks
>
> Fresh from his role as Humbert Humbert in the upcoming film version of
> "Lolita", Irons slips back into the role in this first-person audiobook.
> Histour de force performance is not to be missed. In a silky, sinister
voice, he
> brings out all the nuances of the character: pompous and arrogant, calmly
> rational yet obsessed and insane.
It's a fascinating
> listen; however, it would have been improved with some judicious abridgment.
> For example, when Humbert takes Lolita on two cross-country trips, each lasting
> over a year, we get too many tedious, minor details that could easily have been
> edited for this audio version. Likewise, the section of the book in which
> Humbert loses Lolita and spends three years tracking her down could have been
> trimmed substantially.
>
There ARE parts of "Lolita" that are a bit tedious, a bit too recondite
to be fully entertaining. But hey, if you're gonna present an artist's
work, you owe it to the artist to present it AS IS. I am reminded of the
amusing scene in the film "Amadeus," where the Emperor tells Mozart that
his new opera is first-rate, but there are "simply too many notes, young
man. Just remove a few." Mozart's terse reply: "Which few did you have
in mind, your majesty?" When we mortals are sufficiently bright to tell
Mozart and Nabokov which notes/words to remove, we will be creating
works of genius on our own.
Cheers,
Tom Braun
cawriter@sprynet.com