Subject
Orwell Query (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Jamie Sanday <dub@oz.net>
Donald Barton Johnson writes:
:EDITOR'S NOTE. I had never noticed the mysterious "H" in "G. H. Orwell."
:Although VN did foul up names ocassionally, there may well be something
:going on here. I can only suggest an inversion of the initials of
:H. G. Wells. This has a couple of things going for it: 1) the "-well" in
:"Orwell," 2) the implied contrast of Well's "good" fantasy/Sci-Fi
:(e.g., "The Time Machine") and Orwell's "bad" Sci-Fi "(1984).
I agree with this yet find it curious. Nabokov clearly states his dislike
of Orwell (you'll have to grant me that one since I can't find the cite
right now). And he mentions H.G. Wells approvingly along with Jules Verne,
Poe (of course) and others as early influences. An amalgam of likes and
dislikes one might say. He's done it before, Nabokov, in _Despair_ (Gogol &
Dostoevsky)for instance. Curious. I never noticed that before about him.
rgds,
--
Jamie. obiter dicta
Donald Barton Johnson writes:
:EDITOR'S NOTE. I had never noticed the mysterious "H" in "G. H. Orwell."
:Although VN did foul up names ocassionally, there may well be something
:going on here. I can only suggest an inversion of the initials of
:H. G. Wells. This has a couple of things going for it: 1) the "-well" in
:"Orwell," 2) the implied contrast of Well's "good" fantasy/Sci-Fi
:(e.g., "The Time Machine") and Orwell's "bad" Sci-Fi "(1984).
I agree with this yet find it curious. Nabokov clearly states his dislike
of Orwell (you'll have to grant me that one since I can't find the cite
right now). And he mentions H.G. Wells approvingly along with Jules Verne,
Poe (of course) and others as early influences. An amalgam of likes and
dislikes one might say. He's done it before, Nabokov, in _Despair_ (Gogol &
Dostoevsky)for instance. Curious. I never noticed that before about him.
rgds,
--
Jamie. obiter dicta