Subject
Reference to a story by Brian Howell
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EDNOTE. NABOKV-L harbors a number of writers among its subscribers and contributors. Brian Howell has called my attention to one of his stories (and related graphics) that is available on-line at http://www.richmondreview.co.uk/library/howell01.html. Below he introduces it with somei introductory remarks.
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I hope that members of NABokV-L enjoy this story. It was not intended as a direct homage to Nabokov, or an attempt to write a Nabovian-style story, but I could not but be conscious of the fact that there was a strong element of Nabokov inspiration here, to a certain extent in the theme, and, I hope, in the style, but I shall not lay any strong claims to the latter, a much more involved undertaking, which I did not directly set out to achieve. I am a slow reader and I am still making my way through his various works, so thoughts of Nabokov's fiction are seldom absent. By the same token, I feel that it is an almost impossible task, for me at least, truly to imitate him, though that in itself is obviously a subject close to Nabokov's heart and that of most Nabokovians. To date I have been most inspired by Pale Fire, Lolita, The Gift and his stories. One last thing, and that is that the online version of this story is slightly shorter, having been pared down to a version which I approved at the time. However, the story is due to appear in print form (under the title A Lesson in Flexigation) for the first time in May 2004 in my collection, The Sound of White Ants*, and for this edition I have restored some details and the slightly more playful tone of the original version. If you have any comments you wish to send me, you can email me here: pakmshlter@yahoo.com. My thanks go to D.Barton Johnson for bringing this story to the attention of list members.
[For those of you who want to see how a hexaflexagon is flexed, you can see a short movie if you click on the first picture on this site: http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hexaflexagon/]
*The url for the collection is: http://www.elasticpress.com/sound_of_white_ants.htm
http://www.richmondreview.co.uk/library/howell01.html
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I hope that members of NABokV-L enjoy this story. It was not intended as a direct homage to Nabokov, or an attempt to write a Nabovian-style story, but I could not but be conscious of the fact that there was a strong element of Nabokov inspiration here, to a certain extent in the theme, and, I hope, in the style, but I shall not lay any strong claims to the latter, a much more involved undertaking, which I did not directly set out to achieve. I am a slow reader and I am still making my way through his various works, so thoughts of Nabokov's fiction are seldom absent. By the same token, I feel that it is an almost impossible task, for me at least, truly to imitate him, though that in itself is obviously a subject close to Nabokov's heart and that of most Nabokovians. To date I have been most inspired by Pale Fire, Lolita, The Gift and his stories. One last thing, and that is that the online version of this story is slightly shorter, having been pared down to a version which I approved at the time. However, the story is due to appear in print form (under the title A Lesson in Flexigation) for the first time in May 2004 in my collection, The Sound of White Ants*, and for this edition I have restored some details and the slightly more playful tone of the original version. If you have any comments you wish to send me, you can email me here: pakmshlter@yahoo.com. My thanks go to D.Barton Johnson for bringing this story to the attention of list members.
[For those of you who want to see how a hexaflexagon is flexed, you can see a short movie if you click on the first picture on this site: http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hexaflexagon/]
*The url for the collection is: http://www.elasticpress.com/sound_of_white_ants.htm
http://www.richmondreview.co.uk/library/howell01.html