Subject
Nabokov & Pritchett (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 08:40:50 -0700
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Nabokov & Pritchett
From: Rodney Welch <rwelch@scjob.sces.org>
After reading Earl Sampson's note, I looked up VN in the index to
V.S. Pritchett's Complete Collected Essays. There is only one entry, but
quite an interesting one: a typically concise critique of the Lectures on
Don Quixote.
Although he spars with Nabokov on a few interpretive matters,
Pritchett is generally most appreciative, and he shows a keen affinity
with VN the Teacher:
"He was an extraordinary preparer. When he came to deliver his
course on Don Quixote at Harvard in 1951-2 [VN had] gone to the length of
writing a summary of the events in this enormous novel, chapter by
chapter, so making an invaluable crib. He wrote and rewrote his script,
and at once destroyed its virginal look by covering it with corrections,
possible asides, alternative paragraphs of optional quotations. He
arrived at the lectern with a mass of possibilities ... for the lecturer
himself, the mess was a guarantee of clarity and natural utterance.
(There is nothing like a clean typescript for arresting thought and
destroying personality.)"
Also, Pritchett found that VN "was amusing on minor disputes too:
he was irritated by Joseph Wood Krutch's claim that Don Quixote was
always defeated in his battles. He went to the trouble of reckoning the
score of victories and defeats and was delighted to find the score
even...I strongly recommend this edition of Nabokov's lectures as a
practical guide to all incipient lecturers."
I make a similar pitch, by the way, for this collection, which I
value more than Pritchett's stories. Although I've never quite gotten
through all of its 1,300 pages, I turn to it often to get Pritchett's
take on a writer, and I am never disappointed. He has a Nabokov-like gift
for getting a great deal of truth in a very short space.
Rodney Welch
Columbia, SC
Donald Barton Johnson wrote:
>
> EDITOR's NOTE. I don't know about any possible connection between VN and
> Paul Theroux but his brother, ALexander, (a much better writer in my book)
> wrote a wonderfully Nabokovian novel _Darconville's Cat_ some years ago.
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> From: Earl Sampson <esampson@cu.campus.mci.net>
>
> In the May 25 Sunday New York Times Book Review, Paul Theroux's "Bookend"
> column, "The Last Man of Letters," is an appreciation of V.S. Pritchett.
> As part of his description of Pritchett, he writes "He worked slowly, and
> was confident. Like Joyce and Nabokov and very few others, he knew he was
> a wonderful writer." The essay reveal other similarities with Nabokov.
> They were near the same age (I don't know the date of Pritchett's birth,
> but he "died recently at the age of 96"). Pritchett "had kept on writing
> short stories, and after the New Yorker began publishing them [during or
> after WWII] he had some money. He lived precariously by his writing..."
> "Had some money" probably pretty accurately describes Nabokov's financial
> situation after the New Yorker began publishing his stories, and absent the
> spectacular success of Lolita, one can easily imagine him continuing to
> live "precariously by his writing" and his rather meager academic salary.
> Theroux writes of Pritchett's status as a (voluntary) expatriate during the
> 20's, and quotes from his memoir, "A Cab at the Door": "I became a
> foreigner. For myself that is what a writer is -- a man living on the
> other side of a frontier." And finally, the close of the essay: "He had
> once described writing as 'a labor delightful because it is fanatical.' He
> was happy and he was also fanatical." To me at least, this sounds as if it
> could also be describing Nabokov, although to be realistic, I suppose it
> could apply equally well to many writers.
> Theroux's mention of Nabokov suggests a more than passing knowledge of
> and interest in VN. Does anyone out there know if Theroux has written on
> him? Perhaps someone more expert in such matters than I am could execute
> an Internet search for Theroux & Nabokov. I'm aware, by the way, that
> Pritchett did write on Nabokov, though I haven't had a chance to lay my
> hands on the essay(s?). When I do, I'll post the bibliographical
> information.
>
> Earl Sampson
> Boulder, CO
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 08:40:50 -0700
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Nabokov & Pritchett
From: Rodney Welch <rwelch@scjob.sces.org>
After reading Earl Sampson's note, I looked up VN in the index to
V.S. Pritchett's Complete Collected Essays. There is only one entry, but
quite an interesting one: a typically concise critique of the Lectures on
Don Quixote.
Although he spars with Nabokov on a few interpretive matters,
Pritchett is generally most appreciative, and he shows a keen affinity
with VN the Teacher:
"He was an extraordinary preparer. When he came to deliver his
course on Don Quixote at Harvard in 1951-2 [VN had] gone to the length of
writing a summary of the events in this enormous novel, chapter by
chapter, so making an invaluable crib. He wrote and rewrote his script,
and at once destroyed its virginal look by covering it with corrections,
possible asides, alternative paragraphs of optional quotations. He
arrived at the lectern with a mass of possibilities ... for the lecturer
himself, the mess was a guarantee of clarity and natural utterance.
(There is nothing like a clean typescript for arresting thought and
destroying personality.)"
Also, Pritchett found that VN "was amusing on minor disputes too:
he was irritated by Joseph Wood Krutch's claim that Don Quixote was
always defeated in his battles. He went to the trouble of reckoning the
score of victories and defeats and was delighted to find the score
even...I strongly recommend this edition of Nabokov's lectures as a
practical guide to all incipient lecturers."
I make a similar pitch, by the way, for this collection, which I
value more than Pritchett's stories. Although I've never quite gotten
through all of its 1,300 pages, I turn to it often to get Pritchett's
take on a writer, and I am never disappointed. He has a Nabokov-like gift
for getting a great deal of truth in a very short space.
Rodney Welch
Columbia, SC
Donald Barton Johnson wrote:
>
> EDITOR's NOTE. I don't know about any possible connection between VN and
> Paul Theroux but his brother, ALexander, (a much better writer in my book)
> wrote a wonderfully Nabokovian novel _Darconville's Cat_ some years ago.
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> From: Earl Sampson <esampson@cu.campus.mci.net>
>
> In the May 25 Sunday New York Times Book Review, Paul Theroux's "Bookend"
> column, "The Last Man of Letters," is an appreciation of V.S. Pritchett.
> As part of his description of Pritchett, he writes "He worked slowly, and
> was confident. Like Joyce and Nabokov and very few others, he knew he was
> a wonderful writer." The essay reveal other similarities with Nabokov.
> They were near the same age (I don't know the date of Pritchett's birth,
> but he "died recently at the age of 96"). Pritchett "had kept on writing
> short stories, and after the New Yorker began publishing them [during or
> after WWII] he had some money. He lived precariously by his writing..."
> "Had some money" probably pretty accurately describes Nabokov's financial
> situation after the New Yorker began publishing his stories, and absent the
> spectacular success of Lolita, one can easily imagine him continuing to
> live "precariously by his writing" and his rather meager academic salary.
> Theroux writes of Pritchett's status as a (voluntary) expatriate during the
> 20's, and quotes from his memoir, "A Cab at the Door": "I became a
> foreigner. For myself that is what a writer is -- a man living on the
> other side of a frontier." And finally, the close of the essay: "He had
> once described writing as 'a labor delightful because it is fanatical.' He
> was happy and he was also fanatical." To me at least, this sounds as if it
> could also be describing Nabokov, although to be realistic, I suppose it
> could apply equally well to many writers.
> Theroux's mention of Nabokov suggests a more than passing knowledge of
> and interest in VN. Does anyone out there know if Theroux has written on
> him? Perhaps someone more expert in such matters than I am could execute
> an Internet search for Theroux & Nabokov. I'm aware, by the way, that
> Pritchett did write on Nabokov, though I haven't had a chance to lay my
> hands on the essay(s?). When I do, I'll post the bibliographical
> information.
>
> Earl Sampson
> Boulder, CO