Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0011290, Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:37:04 -0800

Subject
Fwd: RE: Ilium
Date
Body
EDNOTE. I confess that I had not heard of Mr. Simmons and based my Hi_end
comment on a glance on Amazon. I gather he has "ideas" as much of Science
Fiction does.
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----- Forwarded message from gshiman@optonline.net -----
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 00:47:49 -0500
From: George Shimanovich <gshiman@optonline.net>
Reply-To: George Shimanovich <gshiman@optonline.net>
Subject: RE: Ilium
----------------- Message requiring your approval (32 lines)
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'High-end S-F writer', - that sounds like book for mahogany cafe table.
- George

-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf
Of Donald B. Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 7:35 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Fwd: Ilium

Dear Don and List...

Forgive me if this is old hat and I'm simply making a fool of myself. But
I was having a free read in a Johannesburg bookshop last night and I came
across an SF opus by a writer called Dan Simmons, entitled "Ilium". It
seems to leap back and forth from the Trojan War to some distant future,
where a character called Daeman travels to an Ardis Hall, intent on
seducing the lady of the manor -- the creamy-skinned, sensuous,
raven-haired, ultra-cultivated Ada. They discuss lepidopterology. It's too
blatant to be plagiarism, so does it count as a VN sighting? When I got to
page 50, Exclusive Books closed, so I was left in limbo. Does anyone have
a comment?

Hope you're all well...

Tom (Rymour)

----- End forwarded message -----

EDNOTE. 'Tis indeed a legitimate VN sighting. Dan Simmons is apparently a
high-end S-F writer. I amazoned him and see he quotes Proust as well.

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