Subject
Nabokov & the OULIPIANS (fwd)
Date
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EDITOR's NOTE. Paul Braffort, French mathematician and literary theorist,
is a long-time member of the famed OULIPO group. He will shortly publish a
book dealing in part with Nabokov. Meanwhile, he offeres the following
remarks.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 16:07:12 +0100
From: Paul Braffort <Paul.Braffort@teaser.fr>
I offer some additional information on Nabokov/Oulipo relationships.
- Italo Calvino was certainly one of the first critics to offer a
lucid analysis of Lolita. In an interview on "the future of the novel"
published in "Nuovi Argomenti" n°38-39, August 1959, p.8 (Mondadori had
published the Italian translation at the end of May), he says :
"The virtue of this book is that it could be read simultaneously on many
levels : realistic objective story, "story of a soul", lyrical reverie,
America's allegorical poem, linguistic entertainment, essay-like digression
on a thematic pretext, etc.."
(My translation, cf. also Italo Calvino : Saggi, Mondadori, 1995, p.1524).
Other allusions to Nabokov can be found in the Mondadori edition : pp. 121
(1965), 371 (1977), 985 (1983), 2902 (1987).
- Georges Perec, a major Oulipian writer, wrote his celebrated
novel "La vie mode d'emploi" (Life: A User's Manual) under a very complex
system of constraints. One of them was to introduce ten hidden quotations
from each of his ten favorite writers - and this included Nabokov
(quotations are from Sebastian Knight, Lolita and Pale Fire). Cf. David
Bellos : "Literary quotations in Perec's LVME", French Studies, XLI n°2,
april 1987.
N.B. : Eric Orsenna's novel is well received by the critics here. See, for
example, "Le nouvel observateur",n°1701, 12 juin, p.142 and "Le Monde des
livres", 13 juin, p.14. I will read it, of course, and offer my own comments.
P.B.
is a long-time member of the famed OULIPO group. He will shortly publish a
book dealing in part with Nabokov. Meanwhile, he offeres the following
remarks.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 16:07:12 +0100
From: Paul Braffort <Paul.Braffort@teaser.fr>
I offer some additional information on Nabokov/Oulipo relationships.
- Italo Calvino was certainly one of the first critics to offer a
lucid analysis of Lolita. In an interview on "the future of the novel"
published in "Nuovi Argomenti" n°38-39, August 1959, p.8 (Mondadori had
published the Italian translation at the end of May), he says :
"The virtue of this book is that it could be read simultaneously on many
levels : realistic objective story, "story of a soul", lyrical reverie,
America's allegorical poem, linguistic entertainment, essay-like digression
on a thematic pretext, etc.."
(My translation, cf. also Italo Calvino : Saggi, Mondadori, 1995, p.1524).
Other allusions to Nabokov can be found in the Mondadori edition : pp. 121
(1965), 371 (1977), 985 (1983), 2902 (1987).
- Georges Perec, a major Oulipian writer, wrote his celebrated
novel "La vie mode d'emploi" (Life: A User's Manual) under a very complex
system of constraints. One of them was to introduce ten hidden quotations
from each of his ten favorite writers - and this included Nabokov
(quotations are from Sebastian Knight, Lolita and Pale Fire). Cf. David
Bellos : "Literary quotations in Perec's LVME", French Studies, XLI n°2,
april 1987.
N.B. : Eric Orsenna's novel is well received by the critics here. See, for
example, "Le nouvel observateur",n°1701, 12 juin, p.142 and "Le Monde des
livres", 13 juin, p.14. I will read it, of course, and offer my own comments.
P.B.