Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004338, Sat, 21 Aug 1999 14:09:33 -0700

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Re: Nabokov as Literary critic
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From: Brad Buchsbaum <bbuchsba@aris.ss.uci.edu>


I would just like to point out that Nabokov's critical faculties, located
as they were in the spine and not the brain, relied a great deal more on
tingle than effortful analysis. The whole of his critical stance toward an
author is carried by the presence or absence of that greatest of
physiological responses, that telltale shiver of approval. Given the
essentially binary nature of the method, then, it shouldn't be surprising
that Nabokov's opinions should frequently seem so peremptory, so flip, so
totally unforgiving (backbones tend not to bend much). On the other hand,
the Nabokov spine, though an inherently reflexive organ, can hardly be
said to be an arbitrary one. The point being that Nabokov's critical
judgments, whether backed up by lengthy written criticism (Cervantes,
Dostoevsky) or not ("Emerson's poetry is delightful"), depend upon the
electrical agitations of that selfsame bundle of nerve fibers.

Brad Buchsbaum
Department of Cognitive Science
University of California, Irvine