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Re: VN's poetic genius and PF poem
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Welcome home, CK. Recalling the Monty Python sketch (I came here for a
decent argument. O no you didn¹t. Did. Didn¹t ...), I look fwd to renewed
fruitful exchanges with Jansy et moi.
I would have thought that a poem must be judged as-is, not by opinions about
the author¹s motivations, or, following VN¹s post-preface to Bend Sinister
(and passim everywhere!), by any planted messages. PF¹s Cantos, tis true,
offer a rare special tease, where the pseudonymous Shade is not a real
person whose verse is subject to the interpretative methods, love, hate or
indifference, we devote to real poets.
I still think VN ranks supreme (Nil Plus Ultra) in narrative prose, but a
few notches lower in the grand glory of global poetry (Shakespeare, Keats,
Pushkin, Shelley, Chaucer, ...)
I¹m just re-visiting LATH (Look at the Harlequins) in a brilliant
audio-format.
Overawed by VN¹s parodic genius ... Matching that shown in Shade¹s
deliberate doggerel, honed to perfection as the meat in Kinbote¹s sandwich?
Stan (rushing for cover) Kelly-Bootle
On 26/04/2012 17:19, "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@ATT.NET> wrote:
> JM: How nice to see you back to your old form ranging from the pianíssimo to
> the forte...
>
> In your opinion VN was a superb poet who "has yet to be properly recognized as
> such." The article Brian Piano Forte quoted [Vladimir Nabokov and William
> Shakespeare by Philip F Howerton, Jr.] apparently confirms your opinion
>
> Do you think that all the fuss around John Shade's poem "Pale Fire" did
> Nabokov a disservice in connection to VN's poetic genius?
>
> Hello Jansy,
>
> It's nice to be back. I have not read the Howerton article, but your quote
> refers to poems written in Russian presumably, none of which I have read.
>
> As for the controversy over the PF poem, I did overhear (pianissimo as you
> say) the discussions from afar, but did not join in because my opinion depends
> to so great an extent on my interpretation of the novel, that it would only
> mean fighting those old wars again - no point to that.
>
> But since you ask, I felt the controversy was the result of mis-reading the
> novel. Personally? I adored the Shade poem, therefore I adored Shade. But when
> I came to suspect Shade of deception, my understanding of the poem had to
> expand to include all the truths about himself that I felt Shade was hiding in
> it - from himself as well as from his virtual reader. I also feel that at the
> point that Shade suffers a cerebral stroke/psychotic break, that the poem
> breaks down as well and ceases at that point to be even a fictional work of
> art.
>
> The way I see it, the poem's integrity depends on its function within the
> novel. I continue to feel that Pale Fire is an unsurpassed and probably
> unsurpassable work of art and that in conceiving of it and realizing his
> conception in poetry and prose, VN proved himself capable of near supernatural
> achievement.
>
> Forte-pianistically yours,
> Carolyn
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decent argument. O no you didn¹t. Did. Didn¹t ...), I look fwd to renewed
fruitful exchanges with Jansy et moi.
I would have thought that a poem must be judged as-is, not by opinions about
the author¹s motivations, or, following VN¹s post-preface to Bend Sinister
(and passim everywhere!), by any planted messages. PF¹s Cantos, tis true,
offer a rare special tease, where the pseudonymous Shade is not a real
person whose verse is subject to the interpretative methods, love, hate or
indifference, we devote to real poets.
I still think VN ranks supreme (Nil Plus Ultra) in narrative prose, but a
few notches lower in the grand glory of global poetry (Shakespeare, Keats,
Pushkin, Shelley, Chaucer, ...)
I¹m just re-visiting LATH (Look at the Harlequins) in a brilliant
audio-format.
Overawed by VN¹s parodic genius ... Matching that shown in Shade¹s
deliberate doggerel, honed to perfection as the meat in Kinbote¹s sandwich?
Stan (rushing for cover) Kelly-Bootle
On 26/04/2012 17:19, "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@ATT.NET> wrote:
> JM: How nice to see you back to your old form ranging from the pianíssimo to
> the forte...
>
> In your opinion VN was a superb poet who "has yet to be properly recognized as
> such." The article Brian Piano Forte quoted [Vladimir Nabokov and William
> Shakespeare by Philip F Howerton, Jr.] apparently confirms your opinion
>
> Do you think that all the fuss around John Shade's poem "Pale Fire" did
> Nabokov a disservice in connection to VN's poetic genius?
>
> Hello Jansy,
>
> It's nice to be back. I have not read the Howerton article, but your quote
> refers to poems written in Russian presumably, none of which I have read.
>
> As for the controversy over the PF poem, I did overhear (pianissimo as you
> say) the discussions from afar, but did not join in because my opinion depends
> to so great an extent on my interpretation of the novel, that it would only
> mean fighting those old wars again - no point to that.
>
> But since you ask, I felt the controversy was the result of mis-reading the
> novel. Personally? I adored the Shade poem, therefore I adored Shade. But when
> I came to suspect Shade of deception, my understanding of the poem had to
> expand to include all the truths about himself that I felt Shade was hiding in
> it - from himself as well as from his virtual reader. I also feel that at the
> point that Shade suffers a cerebral stroke/psychotic break, that the poem
> breaks down as well and ceases at that point to be even a fictional work of
> art.
>
> The way I see it, the poem's integrity depends on its function within the
> novel. I continue to feel that Pale Fire is an unsurpassed and probably
> unsurpassable work of art and that in conceiving of it and realizing his
> conception in poetry and prose, VN proved himself capable of near supernatural
> achievement.
>
> Forte-pianistically yours,
> Carolyn
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/