Subject
Nabokov and Women (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Dustin, you have put your finger on a very interesting point.
I imagine many traditional Nabokovians might be squirming
uncomfortably in their book-lined studies.
Yes - the unmistakable fact is that many of VN's works are
shot through with mysogyny - but because he is so clever,
so witty and entertaining, this side of him has been overlooked.
[The same is true of many other writers. I am still waiting for
someone who has the courage and 'distance' from the subject to
do demolition jobs on the same feature in Tolstoy and Conrad.]
Despite the fact that people might dig out examples of female
characters who are 'angels' [the other side of the
'whores' he depicts] - we can't get away from the example of
Humbert, our old pal Humbert, who sexually enjoys a teenage
girl for half of VN's greatest novel.
It is strange how psychoanalytic criticism is brought to bear
on the work of some writers [very often those who have had
a tumultuous personal life] whilst others [who have existed
largely in what appears to be monogamous bliss] are left
unexamined.
"trust the tale, not the teller ..."
--
Roy Johnson | Roy@mantex.demon.co.uk
PO Box 100 | Tel: +44 (0)61 432 5811
Manchester M20 6GZ | Fax: +44 (0)61 443 2766
Dustin, you have put your finger on a very interesting point.
I imagine many traditional Nabokovians might be squirming
uncomfortably in their book-lined studies.
Yes - the unmistakable fact is that many of VN's works are
shot through with mysogyny - but because he is so clever,
so witty and entertaining, this side of him has been overlooked.
[The same is true of many other writers. I am still waiting for
someone who has the courage and 'distance' from the subject to
do demolition jobs on the same feature in Tolstoy and Conrad.]
Despite the fact that people might dig out examples of female
characters who are 'angels' [the other side of the
'whores' he depicts] - we can't get away from the example of
Humbert, our old pal Humbert, who sexually enjoys a teenage
girl for half of VN's greatest novel.
It is strange how psychoanalytic criticism is brought to bear
on the work of some writers [very often those who have had
a tumultuous personal life] whilst others [who have existed
largely in what appears to be monogamous bliss] are left
unexamined.
"trust the tale, not the teller ..."
--
Roy Johnson | Roy@mantex.demon.co.uk
PO Box 100 | Tel: +44 (0)61 432 5811
Manchester M20 6GZ | Fax: +44 (0)61 443 2766