Self-assuredness comes naturally from comparing poets as who is better. What works wonders for Super Ball wrecks havoc in this ball game. I admit, VN himself, used harsh words, but those his comparisons were more appraisals of the entire body of works, by somebody who lived there. While it is easy to start by saying that one is better, while the other is worse, with catchy one liners (that’s what they teach in schools these days, isn’t it, – how to think shallow) – it is what follows that’s the fun part.

 

What often pricks up my ears on Nabokov-L is the simplistic argumentation of many of VN’s critics. And not because I am sycophant as some may think but because the problems we are solving here are not tame, they are what is described in other fields as wicked. As opposed to tame ones wicked problems always require a pause after deep analysis of the context - before solving phase. Tame solutions do not apply.

 

- George

 

> I consider the criticism we discuss as naive, not fair. Naïve and too self-assured criticism easily becomes denigration.