Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0002104, Wed, 7 May 1997 17:09:09 -0700

Subject
Re: Irons reading Lolita (fwd)
Date
Body
>
> From: Jeff Edmunds <jhe@psulias.psu.edu>
>
> Abridgment for the sake of brevity is indefensible.
>
> The only quibble I have with Irons' reading is his inexplicable
> mispronunciation of "La Beaute humaine" (his French is otherwise quite
> serviceable): he transforms the simple and lovely two syllables of beaute
> ("Bow Tay"--purists forgive the clumsy phonetic spelling) into three ("Bay
> Oh Tay"). Humbert, Francophone since birth, would never have mispronounced
> that word.


Irons rushes certain poignant passages, ruining some of the impact.
James Mason gave a much beter, though abridged, reading back in 1981.

Tom Braun
cawriter@sprynet.com