Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006360, Mon, 11 Feb 2002 09:29:11 -0800

Subject
Re: Nabokov and Faulkner
Date
Body
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<< Faulkner, in his many examinations of the changing values of the
South and of the rest of the nation, makes it clear that
"self-amusement" is not his purpose. >>

Did Faulkner say or write this? I'm not wishing to pick a fight, but I
find it hard to read Faulkner's extravagant experiments in form and
style and conclude his main concern to have been examining the changing
values of the South. Perhaps his purpose was not "amusement," (although
it's difficult to think he wasn't amusing himself writing The Hamlet),
but serious artistic play, certainly.

Faulkner, I think it fair to say, was not the sort of dogged, earnest,
teach-a-lesson writer of historical fiction that Nabokov tended to
loathe.