Subject
PF poem (quality of)
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I threw some cold water on this question with my posts of 12-14-05,
12-15-05, 12 22-05, and 4-17-06. In summary:
>My own ... judgment is that the poem is a brilliant tour de
>force, but that if it is thought of as complete in itself and as the
>creation of a real person, John Shade, then its elements of parody,
>irony, and bathos ... appear as aesthetic lapses--or even moral lapses,
>insofar as Shade by his attitude to his daughter's physical being
>appears to have compounded her suffering and to have played a role of
>which he was unaware in her tragedy.
I think what clinches the case is Shade's mockery of his daughter,
himself, and his theme. Examples are cited in the posts mentioned
above. Here's one of them:
I loathe such things as jazz...
Walter Miale
http://www.survivalversusdoom.net
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12-15-05, 12 22-05, and 4-17-06. In summary:
>My own ... judgment is that the poem is a brilliant tour de
>force, but that if it is thought of as complete in itself and as the
>creation of a real person, John Shade, then its elements of parody,
>irony, and bathos ... appear as aesthetic lapses--or even moral lapses,
>insofar as Shade by his attitude to his daughter's physical being
>appears to have compounded her suffering and to have played a role of
>which he was unaware in her tragedy.
I think what clinches the case is Shade's mockery of his daughter,
himself, and his theme. Examples are cited in the posts mentioned
above. Here's one of them:
I loathe such things as jazz...
Walter Miale
http://www.survivalversusdoom.net
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