Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006354, Sat, 9 Feb 2002 16:24:26 -0800

Subject
Re: Amis. Nabokov, Bellow
Date
Body
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Fwd: Re: Amis. Nabokov, Bellow]
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 12:35:19 +1300
From: "Brian Boyd (FOA ENG)" <b.boyd@auckland.ac.nz>


Not an anagram and not the Guinevere (but good guess, Don!) but this at
343.11: "The Puffer by Mr Dukes" (Herzog being German for "duke"; the
puffer repeats the SO pun and its criticism of critical "puffery").

Reading "Experience" I was amused to find that MA rated VN his novelist
of
the century, yet completely undermined that evaluation by saying if he
were asked in other circumstances he could name SB his novelist of the
century. Yet every time he quotes VN, as he does often, the quality of
the prose lifts from the MA average; every time he quotes Bellow, the
quality drops.

Though I like VN fail to see why SB has his reputation, it should be
noted
that others have more accommodating tastes: Ellen Pifer has written
highly
acclaimed books on each of these authors.

Brian Boyd

-----Original Message-----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: 2/10/2002 7:16 AM
Subject: [Fwd: Re: Amis. Nabokov, Bellow]

EDITOR's NOTE. Also, in ADA Bellow's HERZOG is alluded to by an
unflattering anagram that I don't recall. In the library of an ocean
liner, I think.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Amis. Nabokov, Bellow
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 14:14:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Nicholas Richards <mailto:njr_elston@yahoo.com>
<njr_elston@yahoo.com>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
<NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>


----------------- Message requiring your approval (22 lines)
------------------

I think if you look at Experience by Martin Amis it

has some details there. Also I seem to recall in

Boyd's biography that both VN & Vera Nabokov had only

negative things to say about Herzog by Saul Bellow.