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QUERY: Did Nabokov actually say this?
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[Jeremy Jones sends the following query. It sounds to me like advice on
how to follow VN's example, written by someone who admires him. -- SES]
Hello all,
I've seen this various places attributed to VN, but it doesn't quite
sound like him. No source either. Did he actually say this?
========
Nabokov's advice to a young writer
1. If possible, be Russian. And live in another country. Play chess. Be
an active trader between languages. Carry precious metals from one to
the other. Remind us of Stravinsky. Know the names of plants and flying
creatures. Hunt gauzy wings with snares of gauze. Make science pay
tribute. Have a butterfly known by your name.
2. Do not be awed by giant predecessors. Be ill-tempered with their
renown. Point out flaws. Frighten interviewers from Time. Appear in
Playboy. Sell to the movies.
3. Use unlikely materials. Who would choose Pnin as hero, but how did we
live before Pnin?
4. Delight in perversity. Put a noun into the dictionary. Now we
recognize the Lolita at every corner, see her sucking sweetened milk
through straws at every soda fountain, dream her through all our
fantasies.
5. Burn pedants in pale fire. Accept no fashions. Be your own fashion.
Do not rely on earlier triumphs. Be new at each appearance.
6. Age indomitably, in the European manner. Do not finish your labours
young. Be a planet, not a meteor. Honor the working day. Sit at your
desk.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 – 1977)
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
how to follow VN's example, written by someone who admires him. -- SES]
Hello all,
I've seen this various places attributed to VN, but it doesn't quite
sound like him. No source either. Did he actually say this?
========
Nabokov's advice to a young writer
1. If possible, be Russian. And live in another country. Play chess. Be
an active trader between languages. Carry precious metals from one to
the other. Remind us of Stravinsky. Know the names of plants and flying
creatures. Hunt gauzy wings with snares of gauze. Make science pay
tribute. Have a butterfly known by your name.
2. Do not be awed by giant predecessors. Be ill-tempered with their
renown. Point out flaws. Frighten interviewers from Time. Appear in
Playboy. Sell to the movies.
3. Use unlikely materials. Who would choose Pnin as hero, but how did we
live before Pnin?
4. Delight in perversity. Put a noun into the dictionary. Now we
recognize the Lolita at every corner, see her sucking sweetened milk
through straws at every soda fountain, dream her through all our
fantasies.
5. Burn pedants in pale fire. Accept no fashions. Be your own fashion.
Do not rely on earlier triumphs. Be new at each appearance.
6. Age indomitably, in the European manner. Do not finish your labours
young. Be a planet, not a meteor. Honor the working day. Sit at your
desk.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 – 1977)
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/