Subject
VN refs
Date
Body
Although Harold Bloom, among others, suggests that VN has been overrated,
Nabokov continues to be a common point of reference in the literary
press. A casual browse through the September 28, 1995 _New York Times
Book Review_ turns up the following references--certainly more than to
any other author:
1) Jay Parini's review of Brooks Hansen's _The Chess Garden (p. 14)
concludes: "Mr. Hansen has the precious gift of observation in spades.
His tale becomes, by turns, a _Bildungsroman_, a novel of ideas, a love
story and--via the twelve letters--a spiritual guide. Comparisons with
Nabokov and Calvino are doubtless in order--those sunny fabulists and
dreamers of perfect dreams."
2) Robert Irwin's review of the short story collection _Strange Traffic_
by German writer Irene Dische (p. 22): "In past decades, Berliners have
served writers like Alfred Doblin, Vladimir Nabokov and Christopher
Isherwood well. But Ms. Dische lacks the compassion and breadth of her
distinguished predecessors."
3) The "New and Noteworthy Paperbacks" section (p. 40) reports the
paperback appearance of Martin Amis' _Visiting Mrs. Nabokokv: And Other
Excursions_ and the immediately preceding item is Saul Bellow's _It All
Adds Up. From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future: A Nonfiction
Collection_. I seem to recall Bellow makes passing reference to VN in the
collection.
4) On p. 43, we find John Updike's essay "Rabbit Gets It Together," the
author's preface to a reissue of his Rabbit tetralogy. Discussing the
censorship problems that accompanied the first 1959 volume, Updike (who
has written much about VN) mentions _Lady Chatterley_ and _Tropic of Cancer_
without, rather oddly, mentioning _Lolita_. But then, _Lo, did not end up
in court.
D. Barton Johnson
Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies
Phelps Hall
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone and Fax: (805) 687-1825
Home Phone: (805) 682-4618
Nabokov continues to be a common point of reference in the literary
press. A casual browse through the September 28, 1995 _New York Times
Book Review_ turns up the following references--certainly more than to
any other author:
1) Jay Parini's review of Brooks Hansen's _The Chess Garden (p. 14)
concludes: "Mr. Hansen has the precious gift of observation in spades.
His tale becomes, by turns, a _Bildungsroman_, a novel of ideas, a love
story and--via the twelve letters--a spiritual guide. Comparisons with
Nabokov and Calvino are doubtless in order--those sunny fabulists and
dreamers of perfect dreams."
2) Robert Irwin's review of the short story collection _Strange Traffic_
by German writer Irene Dische (p. 22): "In past decades, Berliners have
served writers like Alfred Doblin, Vladimir Nabokov and Christopher
Isherwood well. But Ms. Dische lacks the compassion and breadth of her
distinguished predecessors."
3) The "New and Noteworthy Paperbacks" section (p. 40) reports the
paperback appearance of Martin Amis' _Visiting Mrs. Nabokokv: And Other
Excursions_ and the immediately preceding item is Saul Bellow's _It All
Adds Up. From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future: A Nonfiction
Collection_. I seem to recall Bellow makes passing reference to VN in the
collection.
4) On p. 43, we find John Updike's essay "Rabbit Gets It Together," the
author's preface to a reissue of his Rabbit tetralogy. Discussing the
censorship problems that accompanied the first 1959 volume, Updike (who
has written much about VN) mentions _Lady Chatterley_ and _Tropic of Cancer_
without, rather oddly, mentioning _Lolita_. But then, _Lo, did not end up
in court.
D. Barton Johnson
Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies
Phelps Hall
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone and Fax: (805) 687-1825
Home Phone: (805) 682-4618