Subject
Re: 1. VN & Erica Jong 2. LO a modernist work?
Date
Body
1) Erica Jong's poetry is what I would call "third-generation
confessional," heavily influenced by Plath and Sexton. Her popular
novel of fifteen or twenty years ago, *Fear of Flying*, has a chapter
that is a weak and obvious imitation of the "Nous connumes" essay on
motels in *Lolita*. Her admiration for Nabokov is well known and of
long standing. I believe that she contributed a foreword to a
*Lolita* facsimile edition that I have never seen.--Charles Nicol
2) As Don says, whether *Lolita* was considered avant-garde depends on
who is making the statement. *Evergreen Review,* a magazine
published by Grove Press and actively involved with the Beats, etc.,
saw *Lolita* as part of the general movement for freer sexual
expression. Consequently, it published a comment on Nabokov and
Lolita by Maurice Girodias, followed by Nabokov's outraged reply.
Grove also published those Henry Miller works, *Tropic of Cancer*,
etc. that Nabokov took the effort to find silly. *Evergreen Review*
certainly saw itself as avant-garde.
And of course, N.'s first U.S. publications (excepting _LD_ by
Indianapolis' Bobbs-Merrill) were by New Directions, an avant-garde press
with better bona-fides.
--Charles Nicol
confessional," heavily influenced by Plath and Sexton. Her popular
novel of fifteen or twenty years ago, *Fear of Flying*, has a chapter
that is a weak and obvious imitation of the "Nous connumes" essay on
motels in *Lolita*. Her admiration for Nabokov is well known and of
long standing. I believe that she contributed a foreword to a
*Lolita* facsimile edition that I have never seen.--Charles Nicol
2) As Don says, whether *Lolita* was considered avant-garde depends on
who is making the statement. *Evergreen Review,* a magazine
published by Grove Press and actively involved with the Beats, etc.,
saw *Lolita* as part of the general movement for freer sexual
expression. Consequently, it published a comment on Nabokov and
Lolita by Maurice Girodias, followed by Nabokov's outraged reply.
Grove also published those Henry Miller works, *Tropic of Cancer*,
etc. that Nabokov took the effort to find silly. *Evergreen Review*
certainly saw itself as avant-garde.
And of course, N.'s first U.S. publications (excepting _LD_ by
Indianapolis' Bobbs-Merrill) were by New Directions, an avant-garde press
with better bona-fides.
--Charles Nicol