Charles mentions that Auberon Waugh picked PF as his novel of the century. Auberon's father, Evelyn Waugh, thought the poem "Pale Fire" was pretty good too:

 

"I enjoyed _Pale Fire_ awfully & thought the poem no parody or pastiche but a jolly good composition in its own right. _Much_ better than _Lolita_ . But a show-off. Too clever by half. But a pleasure." [The last four sentences refer to the novel, not the poem--he is answering Nancy Mitford, who had asked whether he liked PF.]

 

Source is _The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh_ (Hodder and Stoughton, 1996), 468; the date is December 1962.

 

Mary Bellino

 

---- Original message ----
>From: Chaswe@AOL.COM 
>Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Pale Fire & scholarship 

 

>   A few years ago Auberon Waugh (RIP) selected Pale
>   Fire as his novel of the century. No doubt he had
>   many reasons, but the one that struck me most was
>   that he perceived it as a gigantic and hilarious
>   send-up of the literary scholarship business.