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Re: "Pale Fire" poem (quality of)
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I've been rereading the Pale Fire poem for the umpteenth time with ever
renewed
pleasure. We know that VN had high regard for the poem--although it has little
in common with the great bulk of his verse. Further, there is always an
element
of individual tastes in poetry. N. was obviously trying to recreate a
"classic"
English style with a whiff of Frost. If Pope isn't your cuppa of tea you
probably won't care for the poem. For the role in the book as a whole,
it often
stunning. Don Johnson
uoting NABOKV-L <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU>:
> Charles said:
>
>> I was mainly hoping to provoke a discussion on whether Pale Fire, the
> poem, can truly be accepted as "poetry".
>
> Charles,
>
> I'm not sure that the distinction between "well-crafted verse" and
> "poetry"
> is any distinction at all.
> One can argue whether or not a poem is good, but you seem to be saying
> that
> in order for
> something to be called a poem at all, it must be a great work of art.
> By
> this logic, there is no
> such thing as a bad poem, since the terms are mutually exclusive.
>
> As for the particular merits of "PF"--and here I speak as a poet
> myself--I
> find much of it profoundly
> impressive and deeply felt. I'm not alone in this assessment. Nabokov
> himself seemed to think it
> was pretty good, as he gave at least one reading of it to a public
> audience. More recently, the
> well-respected literary journal Fence reprinted Canto One. Fence's
> editor,
> Rebecca Wolff, writes
> the following in her "Editor's Note": "Herewith...you will find Canto I
> of
> Vladimir Nabokov's virtuousic
> foray into deep metapathos, "Pale Fire," from the novel of the same
> name:
> as (over)determined
> a contraption as ever was. That so much genuine emotion could be
> generated
> by such a well-
> oiled machine continues to please me even after I have paid $100 to
> Random
> House for the
> privilege of reprinting it for you here." (7.1, Spring/Summer 2004)
>
> Best,
> Matthew Roth
>
> Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
> 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
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
renewed
pleasure. We know that VN had high regard for the poem--although it has little
in common with the great bulk of his verse. Further, there is always an
element
of individual tastes in poetry. N. was obviously trying to recreate a
"classic"
English style with a whiff of Frost. If Pope isn't your cuppa of tea you
probably won't care for the poem. For the role in the book as a whole,
it often
stunning. Don Johnson
uoting NABOKV-L <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU>:
> Charles said:
>
>> I was mainly hoping to provoke a discussion on whether Pale Fire, the
> poem, can truly be accepted as "poetry".
>
> Charles,
>
> I'm not sure that the distinction between "well-crafted verse" and
> "poetry"
> is any distinction at all.
> One can argue whether or not a poem is good, but you seem to be saying
> that
> in order for
> something to be called a poem at all, it must be a great work of art.
> By
> this logic, there is no
> such thing as a bad poem, since the terms are mutually exclusive.
>
> As for the particular merits of "PF"--and here I speak as a poet
> myself--I
> find much of it profoundly
> impressive and deeply felt. I'm not alone in this assessment. Nabokov
> himself seemed to think it
> was pretty good, as he gave at least one reading of it to a public
> audience. More recently, the
> well-respected literary journal Fence reprinted Canto One. Fence's
> editor,
> Rebecca Wolff, writes
> the following in her "Editor's Note": "Herewith...you will find Canto I
> of
> Vladimir Nabokov's virtuousic
> foray into deep metapathos, "Pale Fire," from the novel of the same
> name:
> as (over)determined
> a contraption as ever was. That so much genuine emotion could be
> generated
> by such a well-
> oiled machine continues to please me even after I have paid $100 to
> Random
> House for the
> privilege of reprinting it for you here." (7.1, Spring/Summer 2004)
>
> Best,
> Matthew Roth
>
> Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
> 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
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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