Subject
Re: Nabokov and Iris Murdoch?
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Dear all,
Emma V. Miller, a PhD student at Durham working on Iris Murdoch, was “struck by the similarity between the subtleties of Nabokov's moral vision and Murdoch's.” She asked if I knew whether Nabokov had shown any interest in Nabokov’s work. I said no, but asked about the reverse direction. Emma answered:
Murdoch had obviously read Nabokov as she refers to him in Against Dryness with the comment that it would take “a foreigner like Nabokov or an Irishman like Beckett to animate prose language into an imaginative stuff in its own right” and also responds to questions on Pale Fire in an interview. Her writing is preoccupied with similar themes of sexual taboos and considers them in what appears to be a non-judgemental fashion but which on closer acquaintance allows the plot to condemn misdemeanours without overt authorial intervention. I think he was one of the few contemporaneous authors she read and admired even though his style is disparate to hers.
If anyone knows or sees any other connections, Emma would like to hear: <e.v.miller@durham.ac.uk<mailto:e.v.miller@durham.ac.uk>>.
Brian Boyd
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Emma V. Miller, a PhD student at Durham working on Iris Murdoch, was “struck by the similarity between the subtleties of Nabokov's moral vision and Murdoch's.” She asked if I knew whether Nabokov had shown any interest in Nabokov’s work. I said no, but asked about the reverse direction. Emma answered:
Murdoch had obviously read Nabokov as she refers to him in Against Dryness with the comment that it would take “a foreigner like Nabokov or an Irishman like Beckett to animate prose language into an imaginative stuff in its own right” and also responds to questions on Pale Fire in an interview. Her writing is preoccupied with similar themes of sexual taboos and considers them in what appears to be a non-judgemental fashion but which on closer acquaintance allows the plot to condemn misdemeanours without overt authorial intervention. I think he was one of the few contemporaneous authors she read and admired even though his style is disparate to hers.
If anyone knows or sees any other connections, Emma would like to hear: <e.v.miller@durham.ac.uk<mailto:e.v.miller@durham.ac.uk>>.
Brian Boyd
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/