Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010464, Fri, 29 Oct 2004 17:00:20 -0700

Subject
Fwd: Appel's LOLITA
Date
Body
----- Forwarded message from chaiselongue@earthlink.net -----
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:44:46 -0800
From: Carolyn <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Carolyn <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
Subject: churlish & asinine


Dear Mr Keats,

How lovely that you are still around! I didn't know. I hope you will allow
me to defend myself against your eloquent attack?

#1. I've been reading Appel's Annotated Lolita. I find it less helpful than
I had hoped (very helpful if you have no French).

This you call churlish (i.e. boorish, violent, wicked, mean, sordid)?
Heavens! All I said was that I was disappointed!

#2. Appel allows that wicked VN to get away with murder (if VN told Appel
that he hadn't read a story in which a character's name is Lolita, Appel
passes this along as the truth).

This you say is asinine? Well, perhaps you are right. Unfortunately I cannot
find the note I was referring to so I am unable to defend my reaction.

Allow me instead to defend the wonderful creature whose name you take in
vain. I always enjoy reading the stories about how the great observatory on
Mount Wilson (near Pasadena where I live) was built:

During those early days and far into the future, burros and horses were the
only means of transportation on Mount Wilson. Despite the burros' innate
stubbornness, [the astronomer] Hale was entranced by these perverse animals
and developed a curious fondness for them. From the beginning they were as
indispensable to the building of the observatory as any astronomer. Their
unexpected antics added to the gaiety of existence. "Books," said Walter
Adams , who was soon to make their acquaintance, "could be written about the
personal characteristics of these sagacious beasts and the infinite variety
in their individual behavior."

[Explorer of the Universe: A Biography of George Ellery Hale by Helen
Wright, p. 177]

So, asinine or sagacious, I'll let it pass.

Carolyn

p.s. I'm afraid Chapman's Homer has disintegrated into little more than a
joke these days (see Pale Fire canto I, ll. 97-98).

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