Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0019150, Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:51:09 -0500

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Re: THOUGHT on Shade as poet
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Stan K-B wrote:

John Morris: I appreciate your opposing views expressed with such elegant tolerance.

Thanks for the "elegant," Stan, and as for the tolerance, I only hope all forums everywhere exhibit the same courtesy and respect that ours does.

A tricky what-if...

Now that's a truly interesting thought experiment. I think your fantasy sounds pretty accurate!

I'd love to know if VN included this stanza in his recital.

He did indeed. His thick Russian accent can sound unintentionally ironic, of course, but I hear him reading the entire death-of- Hazel section with pathos and compassion. Does anyone know if these readings are in fact available digitally? If they're not, and if there's no copyright issue, I'd be glad to digitize them and upload them someplace.

A final thought: Ever since I first read "Pale Fire" the novel, and began discussing it with other readers, I've been fascinated to realize that there is immense disagreement about the merits of "Pale Fire" the poem. I can only say that the stanza Stan quotes seems pretty darn good to me. Does the melodrama seem overdone, Stan, or perhaps the cadence of the words themselves doesn't make music for you? I've heard both these criticisms leveled, not unreasonably, at the poem, but . . . works for me!


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