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VN: Wait at Least Thirty Pages to Talk?
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EDITOR's NOTE. NABOKV-L once again thanks Mr. Iannarelli.
Iann88@aol.com wrote:
> This from Edmund White in Gay Fiction Speaks:Conversations with Gay
> Novelists:
>
> "Nabokov recommended that a writer not use any dialogue in the first
> thirty
> or forty pages of a novel. He thought it very important that the
> writer
> impose his own tone of voice and point of view before handing it over
> to all
> these characters, who necessarily would talk in a realistic--that
> is,banal--way."
>
> Phillip Iannarelli
> Cleveland, Ohio
--------------------
EDITOR's NOTE. I suspect this is Edmund White's projection. It is true
that VN did not much like dialogue. As an aside, I would remark that
dialogue quickly "dates" a novel.
Iann88@aol.com wrote:
> This from Edmund White in Gay Fiction Speaks:Conversations with Gay
> Novelists:
>
> "Nabokov recommended that a writer not use any dialogue in the first
> thirty
> or forty pages of a novel. He thought it very important that the
> writer
> impose his own tone of voice and point of view before handing it over
> to all
> these characters, who necessarily would talk in a realistic--that
> is,banal--way."
>
> Phillip Iannarelli
> Cleveland, Ohio
--------------------
EDITOR's NOTE. I suspect this is Edmund White's projection. It is true
that VN did not much like dialogue. As an aside, I would remark that
dialogue quickly "dates" a novel.