Dear List,
Although we already mentioned VN's own evaluation
of James Joyce in former postings, I think it is worthwhile to return
to this topic.
When Eric Naiman recently wrote about "Lolita", he used this novel to
exemplify the idea connecting language and "ora*l s*ex" - with which I
don't fully agree.
VN expressed his opinion that "Joyce sometimes
confused se()x and the latrine" ( I risk to quote from memory, faulty
as it is), even when he, himself, enjoyed referring to the bad winds of
Ben Wright's farts ( "Ada, or Ardor"), and other extreme "souffles".
VN is dealing with other kinds of erotic experience, in contrast to
Joyce's, because he lets us perceive the distance bt. verbal or
physical abuse ( an aural rape is somehow also corporeal!) and
everything else that language may offer.
Jansy Mello