George Shimanovich's remark on global
computer literacy is poignant... and seminal. If anyone wants to know more about
Literature and Chimps, I suggest reading, or re-reading, B. Malamud's God's
Grace, a comic and prophetic novel which in some way is not so far from
Nabokov's themes as it may seem. There is, first of all, a chimp who
learns English and speaks it in a heavy German accent... But his articulation
improves fast-- much faster than Pnin's! God's Grace isn't a book
only about language, but language makes the most fascinating part of
it.