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Re: a BIRTHDAY proposal?
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On Apr 27, 2010, at 3:24 PM, laurence hochard wrote: Carolyn, I
think it is difficult to find evidence of kindness because true
kindness is often invisible: it is of the kind VN described in
Lucette's keeping company to the Robinsons just before committing
suicide, or Disa's being kind to a servant despite her discovering yet
another proof of Kinbote's infidelity. Laurence Hochard
Dear Mr Hochard,
You are too kind. As Nabokov was quick to decline responsibility for
his characters' faults, you shouldn't be so quick to give him
responsibility for their virtues. He could imagine virtue as well as
he could imagine vice, which is to say, very well - - however there's
no evidence that he himself behaved either like Humbert Humbert or
like Lucette.
Carolyn Kunin
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think it is difficult to find evidence of kindness because true
kindness is often invisible: it is of the kind VN described in
Lucette's keeping company to the Robinsons just before committing
suicide, or Disa's being kind to a servant despite her discovering yet
another proof of Kinbote's infidelity. Laurence Hochard
Dear Mr Hochard,
You are too kind. As Nabokov was quick to decline responsibility for
his characters' faults, you shouldn't be so quick to give him
responsibility for their virtues. He could imagine virtue as well as
he could imagine vice, which is to say, very well - - however there's
no evidence that he himself behaved either like Humbert Humbert or
like Lucette.
Carolyn Kunin
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/