Read any good Nabokovs lately?

[BurtWorm]

I've read Lolita a bunch of times, Pnin a couple of times, Ada, and Pale Fire. I was looking for a good meaty Nabokov to read at the book store the other day. Any suggestions?

[wtmusic]

1. You got all my faves covered

Still trying to get through Pale Fire. It's not stoking my fire (I crack myself up).


You read the short stories?

[BurtWorm]

2. Pale Fire daunted me at first

but I found the rhythm after a while, of turning back and forth between the poem and the endnotes, and it blew me away. I should really reread it. I don't remember the poem all that much, but the endnotes were a trip!

For some reason I've never gotten hooked by the stories. Have you?

[wtmusic]

4. Yeah, it's been a while

I think Penguin has a collection out. They're uneven but there are some real gems too, kind of like short stories by Guy de Maupassant.

[BurtWorm]

6. I have the Avon Nabokov's Dozen

I'm sure I've at least started a few, but the truth is, I've never been much of a short story reader. Don't know why.

[darkstar]

3. I'm partial to Despair. And I was also

the shadow of the waxwing slain
by the false azure of the window pane


(or something like that?)

[BurtWorm]

5. Lovely language for a grim image

Did you see Fassbinder's movie version of "Despair?" I didn't read the book before I saw it, but I loved that movie.

[darkstar]

7. Yes I did

but I had read the book first and I wasn't crazy about the movie. Didn't hate, certainly.

It's just that I'd hate to try to direct a sreenplay based upon a VN novel. Not only is the voice in his novels so absolutely part of the experience, his "engage the reader in the game of reading" approach leads, IMVHO, to a wider range of subjective experiences than most novels. I haven't seen the newest Lolita, but as a huge Kubrick fan, I have to say the tone of version does not resonate quite correctly (with the *huge* caveat) for me.

Perhaps what I really mean is that I'd hate to try and make a VN novel into a movie for VN fans familiar w/ the work b/c no matter what you do, so many will say you got the most central, resonant tones all wrong.

As for Despair, the reveal at the end re: the "double" has likely given me the biggest chill I've ever had as an adult reader. Seriously. I remebmer it clearly. Roughly 15 yrs ago. It's not often I put a book down and say "Holy s--t" and have to shake my head out, especially accompanied by some serious, persistent gooseflesh.

[BurtWorm]

8. Okay, you sold me.

I've got to read Despair. Thanks for the thoughtful suggestion.

[darkstar]

9. But you've seen the movie, so you know the revelation

I'm thinking of.

And of course I do not want to spoil anything in your near future, but a good meausre of that book is its exquisite pacing to this revelation.

Now, at the risk of making a fool of myself, this is the novel where the guy hires a certain other guy with a certian similarity to a certain someone, right?

If not, then maybe I could interest you in some King, Queen, Knave or Laughter in the Dark?

[BurtWorm]

10. Don't say anything more!

I saw the movie a long time ago, and all I know is the similarity in question was not spot on by a long shot. Dirk Bogard seemed like an utter nut because he thought so. I don't remember much else about the movie.

PS: I skipped over the first two paragraphs of your post just now and saw your other two recommendations. You haven't read Bend Sinister or Glory, have you? Those are his two most overtly political novels, it seems. I know he came from Liberal stock but was anti-communist, so I've always been hesitant to get too close to his politics.

[darkstar]

12. I do need to say one more thing:

thanks for the late night conversation. I come and go here in fits, epecially "post"-war. I love this community, but cruising LBN each and every day takes its toll on me. Sorry to sound so spineless. (See my Neil Young thread in GD for the spine straigtening, manic-making reason I'm even posting tonight.

At any rate, nice to meet you and thanks again for the chance to talk about one of my favorite authors. (I think English was the third language he published fiction in....)

[BurtWorm]

15. Nice to meet you, too

I'm not sure if it was his third published language, though it was definitely his third language, after Russian and French. I don't think he ever learned German, though he lived in Berlin for a time.

[wtmusic]

16. Have you seen either film version of 'Lolita'?

I wouldn't wish either on anyone!

[BurtWorm]

17. I kinda like the first one

I don't think of it as Lolita the book, which really is very different, especially toward the end. But I like the movie for sentimental reasons. It came on late one night many years ago one summer night and took me completely by surprise. I'd never seen it, only heard about it, had already read the book a couple of times. I just enjoyed it as a Stanley Kubrick movie of the 1960s. But it isn't as delicious as the novel.

[wtmusic]

18. I saw it expecting too much

of course, and James Mason as Humbert wasn't nearly pervy enough.

I'm convinced the murder of Clare Quilty at the end is unfilmable. The power lies in the language.

[BurtWorm]

19. I totally agree.

It's probably why they stuck it on at the beginning, to lower our expectations.

[Sufi Marmot]

11. I enjoyed "Invitation to a Beheading"

I read it several years ago (my first Nabokov, I've since read Pnin and Lolita) - it reminded me of Kafka - more surreal than the other two novels...

-SM

[darkstar]

13. I agree

re: your Kafka take. Don't remember it as well as some of the others, but that's the tone I associate with it, too. IMO, it certainly helps demonstrate his range, as well.

[REP]

14. Bend Sinister

Pale Fire
King, Queen, Knave
Invitation to a Beheading

[On the Road]

20. You Might Want to Try Some Nonfiction

I liked "Speak, Memory", his autobiography, especially his early life.

And there are three wonderful books of his lectures: Nabokov on Literature, on Russian Literature, and on Don Quixote. All good.

At the beginning of the Russian volume, he writes that unlike most national literature, "virtually the entirety of great Russian literature is contained in the round amphora of the 19th century, with a little cream jug provided for whatever has accumulated since." (Including his own contribution, of course.)

[BurtWorm]

21. Goddamn, that guy could write!

Thank you seriously for the suggestions. My mother-in-law has those lectures, I believe. I'll look into them.