Subject
[NABOKOV-L] [SIGHTING] the Art of the Self-Interview and top ten
fruit scenes...
fruit scenes...
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Date
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While I was trying to recover the place where I found Nabokov's reference to Osberg's novel in an interview I found another, quite recent, text (the date is July 2, "the thirty-fourth anniversary of ...Vladimir Nabokov") * I also came across Ada's reference to Osberg** and Don Juan and to a curious note:
Adam Leith Gollner's top ten fruit scenes in literature
Top ten fruit scenes in literature
Adam Leith Gollner is the author of The Fruit Hunters : A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession.
For the Guardian, he named his top 10 fruit scenes in literature.
Number One on his list: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
"She had painted lips and was holding in her hollowed hands a beautiful, banal, Eden-red apple. She tossed it up into the sun-dusted air, and caught it - it made a polished plop. Humbert Humbert intercepted the apple."
Unfortunately I couldn't find the Nabokov interview I'd been looking for...
.
...............................................................................
* Vladimir Nabokov and the Art of the Self-Interview
July 2, 2011 | by Sarah Fay
Today, as you may know, is the thirty-fourth anniversary of the Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov's death. There won't be parades, but there will be an abundance of talk, mainly on NPR, about his most famous novel Lolita or his penchant for butterflies. On no other day will the words lepidopterist...and nymphet-which Nabokov forever altered to mean "a sexually attractive or sexually mature young girl"-be used with such frequency. What probably won't be discussed is Nabokov's shrewd and savvy approach to publicity and fame. Perhaps more than any other writer in the twentieth century, he knew how to control his image. As John Updike wrote in Assorted Prose, Nabokov was not only one of the best writers in English, but also "a solid personality" giving a performance "scarcely precedented in American literature." It would be hyperbolic to place Nabokov in the same category as celebrity doyens like Madonna or Lady Gaga, but he could certainly have taught them a thing or two about fame and the art of the interview.
Fame descended on Nabokov after the 1958 publication of Lolita. He was sixty years old at the time and held a lectureship at Cornell. My father took Nabokov's American literature course and says he can't remember anything about it except for the way that Nabokov, wearing a black cape, used to sweep into the lecture hall with Vera, his wife and assistant, in tow. Nabokov would then deliver his lecture from prepared notes to great affect. His dramatic performances in class drew students to him, and, according to Nabokov's most meticulous biographer Brian Boyd, his European literature course was second in enrollment to Pete Seger's folk-song course. As a literature teacher, Nabokov emphasized the importance of reading for detail, assigning students fewer books in order to read them slowly. He quizzed students on the pattern of Madame Bovary's wallpaper and sketched the path that Bloom walks in Ulysses on the blackboard. According to Nabokov, this approach "'irritated or puzzled such students of literature (and their professors) as were accustomed to 'serious' courses replete with 'trends,' and 'schools,' and 'myths,' and 'symbols,' and 'social comment,' and something unspeakably spooky called 'climate of thought.' Actually these 'serious' courses were quite easy ones with the students required to know not the books but about the books."
Paris Review - Vladimir Nabokov and the Art of the Self-Interview ... -
www.theparisreview.org/.../vladimir-nabokov-and-the-art-... - Em cache
** - "A gitana predicts to the gloomy cavalier that before reaching the castle he will have succumbed to the wiles of her sister, Dolores, a dancing girl (lifted from Osberg's novella, as was to be proved in the ensuing lawsuit). She also predicted something to Van, for even before Dolores came out of the circus tent to water Juan's horse, Van knew who she would be." (Ada, part III)
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Adam Leith Gollner's top ten fruit scenes in literature
Top ten fruit scenes in literature
Adam Leith Gollner is the author of The Fruit Hunters : A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession.
For the Guardian, he named his top 10 fruit scenes in literature.
Number One on his list: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
"She had painted lips and was holding in her hollowed hands a beautiful, banal, Eden-red apple. She tossed it up into the sun-dusted air, and caught it - it made a polished plop. Humbert Humbert intercepted the apple."
Unfortunately I couldn't find the Nabokov interview I'd been looking for...
.
...............................................................................
* Vladimir Nabokov and the Art of the Self-Interview
July 2, 2011 | by Sarah Fay
Today, as you may know, is the thirty-fourth anniversary of the Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov's death. There won't be parades, but there will be an abundance of talk, mainly on NPR, about his most famous novel Lolita or his penchant for butterflies. On no other day will the words lepidopterist...and nymphet-which Nabokov forever altered to mean "a sexually attractive or sexually mature young girl"-be used with such frequency. What probably won't be discussed is Nabokov's shrewd and savvy approach to publicity and fame. Perhaps more than any other writer in the twentieth century, he knew how to control his image. As John Updike wrote in Assorted Prose, Nabokov was not only one of the best writers in English, but also "a solid personality" giving a performance "scarcely precedented in American literature." It would be hyperbolic to place Nabokov in the same category as celebrity doyens like Madonna or Lady Gaga, but he could certainly have taught them a thing or two about fame and the art of the interview.
Fame descended on Nabokov after the 1958 publication of Lolita. He was sixty years old at the time and held a lectureship at Cornell. My father took Nabokov's American literature course and says he can't remember anything about it except for the way that Nabokov, wearing a black cape, used to sweep into the lecture hall with Vera, his wife and assistant, in tow. Nabokov would then deliver his lecture from prepared notes to great affect. His dramatic performances in class drew students to him, and, according to Nabokov's most meticulous biographer Brian Boyd, his European literature course was second in enrollment to Pete Seger's folk-song course. As a literature teacher, Nabokov emphasized the importance of reading for detail, assigning students fewer books in order to read them slowly. He quizzed students on the pattern of Madame Bovary's wallpaper and sketched the path that Bloom walks in Ulysses on the blackboard. According to Nabokov, this approach "'irritated or puzzled such students of literature (and their professors) as were accustomed to 'serious' courses replete with 'trends,' and 'schools,' and 'myths,' and 'symbols,' and 'social comment,' and something unspeakably spooky called 'climate of thought.' Actually these 'serious' courses were quite easy ones with the students required to know not the books but about the books."
Paris Review - Vladimir Nabokov and the Art of the Self-Interview ... -
www.theparisreview.org/.../vladimir-nabokov-and-the-art-... - Em cache
** - "A gitana predicts to the gloomy cavalier that before reaching the castle he will have succumbed to the wiles of her sister, Dolores, a dancing girl (lifted from Osberg's novella, as was to be proved in the ensuing lawsuit). She also predicted something to Van, for even before Dolores came out of the circus tent to water Juan's horse, Van knew who she would be." (Ada, part III)
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
