Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005888, Mon, 2 Apr 2001 10:09:01 -0700

Subject
E.O. Wilson & LOLITA
Date
Body
Instead of more pressing things I am in the midst of E.O.Wilson's
_CONSILIENCE. The Unity of Knowledge_.

In a chapter on the arts, he writes:

"The arts are eternally discursive. They seek maximum effect with novel
imagery. And imagery that burns itself into the memory, so that when
recalled it retains some of its origninal impact. Among examples I
especially appreciate is the perfect opening of Nabokov's pedophilic
novel. 'Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps
down the palate to tap, at three on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.' Thus with
anatomical accuracy, alliterative t-sounds, and poetic meter Nabokov
drenches the name, the book title, and the plot in sensuality." (p. 222)

Had their dates been a bit different, Wilson, who is (inter alia)
Honorary Curator in Entomology at Harvard's Museum of Comparative
Zoology, might have been VN's boss.