Subject
Nabokov, Fitzgerald, and biases (fwd)
Date
Body
I am just curious if people who object (rightfully so) to Fitzgerald's
biases strongly enough for it to affect their appreciation of his novel
(no matter how good artistically) would apply the same standards to
Nabokov himself. If you happen to feel differently, for example, about
homosexuality than did Nabokov, and find caricature-like depiction of gays
as offensive as caricature-like depiction of Jews, would
you consider MARY a "terrible" novel because of its rather demeaning and
quite obnoxious presentation of a gay couple of dancers? Nabokov's
sensitivity to anti-Jewish sentiments was, no doubt, further deepened by
the Holocaust. Were Fitzgerald to write The Great Gatsby AFTER the war, I
am doubtful he would have been as cavalier with his Jewish character
there. Was Nabokov to write Mary AFTER the war, I also hope he would have
been less cavalier about his depiction of a gay couple, especially since
his own brother was interned partially because he was gay. Do not you
think these biases are quite comparable, and neither Fitzgerald NOR
Nabokov are blameless if these are, in fact, the terms of our discourse?
Galya Diment