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-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	[Fwd: Re: Re: Ayn Rand again]
Date:	Fri, 03 Feb 2006 13:48:47 -0500
From:	chtodel@cox.net
To:	nabokv-l@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU

NOTE: Gene Bell-Villada and I have long shared a perverse interest in "the odd couple," as we call the Russo-American writers VN & Ayn Rand who, not withstanding their parallel biographies, represented opposite poles of the literary spectrum. The following exchange should be read from bottom to top. DBJ
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>
> From: Gene Bell-Villada <Gene.H.Bell-Villada@williams.edu>
> Date: 2006/02/02 Thu PM 07:04:35 EST
> To: chtodel@cox.net
> Subject: Re: Re: Ayn Rand again
---------------------------------------------

>
> >Dear Gene,
> > Once again my thanks. Would it be OK with you if I posted our
> >exchange on NABOKV-L? Best, Don
------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> From: Gene Bell-Villada <Gene.H.Bell-Villada@williams.edu>
> >> Date: 2006/01/26 Thu PM 11:21:05 EST
> >> To: chtodel@cox.net
> >> Subject: Re: Re: Ayn Rand again
> >>
> >> Dear Don,
> >>
> >> Prompted by your message, I looked up both LOLITA and ATLAS SHRUGGED
> >> on amazon.com. Actually, they both more or less share the same
> >> ranking--between 700th and 1000th. One major difference, though, is
> >> that LOLITA gets 443 reader reviews, whereas ATLAS draws
> >> 1,313--that's 3 times as many! Moreover, the readers' comments to
> >> LOLITA are quite sophisticated and mature, while the wide-eyed praise
> >> for ATLAS consists of empty, delusional, ideological drivel.
> >>
> >> PALE FIRE, as expected, comes somewhat behind LOLITA: 4,900th.
> >>
> >> It may be that in bookstores the situation with their stock is
> >> different. Certainly in places like BORDERS, customers are somewhat
> >> more likely to purchase Rand than Nabokov!
> >>
> >> What a sad story that is about the Nabokov Museum in Petersburg!
> >> Looks as if, in the "Odd Couple" you first wrote about, La Rand is
> >> currently winning, alas.
> >>
> >>
> >> >Dear Gene,
> >> > And a Happy New Year to you! Your "Dirty Dancing" reference is a
> >> >gem--for which I thank you. I note that since VN's 1999 centenary,
> >> >his books (LOLITA aside)have vanished from both new and used
> >> >bookstores while Ayn's oeuvre flourishes ever more extravagantly.
> >> >Best, Don
> >> >
> >> >P.S. In reply to your DD news--I can mention that the modest Nabokov
> >> >Museum in the family St. Petersburg home was reduced (for financial
> >> >reasons)to host an Ayn Rand show put on by her Institute.
---------------------------------------------------
> >> >>
> >> >> From: Gene Bell-Villada <Gene.H.Bell-Villada@williams.edu>
> >> >> Date: 2006/01/25 Wed PM 11:15:51 EST
> >> >> To: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> >> >> Subject: Re: Ayn Rand again
--------------------------------------------------
> >> >>
> >> >> Dear Don,
> >> >>
> >> >> Are you still collecting instances of Ayn Rand's work appearing in
> >> >> pop culture items?
> >> >>
> >> >> I ask because I recently saw the movie DIRTY DANCING on DVD. There's
> >> >> a brief moment there where a guy who is a waiter at a summer
> >> >> resort--and who is sort of the villain of the piece, selfish and
> >> >> thoughtless--shows the female protagonist the book that is his bible:
> >> >> THE FOUNTAINHEAD!
> >> >>
> >> >> I thought this stray fact might interest you.
> >> >>
> >> >> Happy new year,
> >> >>
> >> >> Gene Bell-Villada
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>

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