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Re: THOUGHT: the whole codology
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Bravissimo, Tom. Power to your pen.
Pale Fire is a damn fine read and finer re-read. Who could ask for anything
more? © Ira Gershwin
Love the Higgs Boson quip, although, having studied the quirks of Quantum
Mechanics (at Dirac¹s alma mater), there are ineffable differences in
finding the origins of mass, and determining if Pale Fire reveals anything
we didn¹t know about the After Life or the perils of poor parenting and
pedantic Literary Criticism.
I¹ve always thought it risky (but worthwhile) for authors to include a MAD
character in their narratives. Whether the mad person is truly insane or
just playing daft, the normal contract¹ between writer and reader is
disturbed. I mean, the writer is free to invent abnormal utterances and
actions, forcing us to suspend the judgments we apply to rational actors. We
can¹t tell if CK is delusional all or some of the time, or lying with sane
motives (also known as CODDOLOGY; note spelling). Recall Polonius on Hamlet:
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1864510
On 07/10/2010 03:47, "NABOKV-L" <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
> Tom Rymour writes:
>
> Dear All,
>
> Re the hunt for codology in Pale Fire(AKA the Higgs boson of Nabokov
> studies) I recall a conversation with an academic in 1998. She was one of
> the three judges who had just seen fit to give me a literary award for a
> work of satirical fantasy. I asked her if she ever dabbled in fiction, and
> she said: "Good heavens, no! there are only two kinds of people -- those
> who write and those who write about them. You're one and I'm the other.
> And if it wasn't for chaps like you, we'd have nothing to do!"
>
> It strikes me that Old McNab has given an awful lot of people a great deal
> to be getting on with. Personally, I'm content to look at the Taj Mahal by
> moonlight, rather than pore over architectural drawings of it.
>
>
> Hugs and kisses...
>
> Tom (Rymour)
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Pale Fire is a damn fine read and finer re-read. Who could ask for anything
more? © Ira Gershwin
Love the Higgs Boson quip, although, having studied the quirks of Quantum
Mechanics (at Dirac¹s alma mater), there are ineffable differences in
finding the origins of mass, and determining if Pale Fire reveals anything
we didn¹t know about the After Life or the perils of poor parenting and
pedantic Literary Criticism.
I¹ve always thought it risky (but worthwhile) for authors to include a MAD
character in their narratives. Whether the mad person is truly insane or
just playing daft, the normal contract¹ between writer and reader is
disturbed. I mean, the writer is free to invent abnormal utterances and
actions, forcing us to suspend the judgments we apply to rational actors. We
can¹t tell if CK is delusional all or some of the time, or lying with sane
motives (also known as CODDOLOGY; note spelling). Recall Polonius on Hamlet:
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1864510
On 07/10/2010 03:47, "NABOKV-L" <NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
> Tom Rymour writes:
>
> Dear All,
>
> Re the hunt for codology in Pale Fire(AKA the Higgs boson of Nabokov
> studies) I recall a conversation with an academic in 1998. She was one of
> the three judges who had just seen fit to give me a literary award for a
> work of satirical fantasy. I asked her if she ever dabbled in fiction, and
> she said: "Good heavens, no! there are only two kinds of people -- those
> who write and those who write about them. You're one and I'm the other.
> And if it wasn't for chaps like you, we'd have nothing to do!"
>
> It strikes me that Old McNab has given an awful lot of people a great deal
> to be getting on with. Personally, I'm content to look at the Taj Mahal by
> moonlight, rather than pore over architectural drawings of it.
>
>
> Hugs and kisses...
>
> Tom (Rymour)
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/