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CLARIFICATION (Stadlen, Kunin, Hochard)
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<SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: small"
class=Apple-style-span><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Garamond; FONT-SIZE:
12px" class=Apple-style-span>On Apr 28, 2010, at 10:25 PM, Anthony
Stadlen wrote: <SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
class=Apple-style-span>Dear Carolyn, You write: << You say that he is
not honest and that his readers are entitled to expect honesty: I don't
think so. Nobody could be "honest" about such a thing and we, readers
are not his judges, are not in any way "entitled" to expect a full
confession from him. >>
Dear Mr Stadlen,
No idea what you are talking about - - I never wrote any such thing.
Carolyn Kunin
***
[Anthony Stadlen was quoting a post written not by Carolyn Kunin but
from Laurence Hochard, which is reprinted below. -- SES]
Dear Anthony,
In his "Speak, Nabokov", Micha�l Maar discusses this and is of the
opinion that VN was intimately concerned by this theme and that he
progressively lowered his guard (from "Ada" on) and finally indulged
himself in TOOL.
You say that he is not honest and that his readers are entitled to
expect honesty: I don't think so. Nobody could be "honest" about such a
thing and we, readers are not his judges, are not in any way "entitled"
to expect a full confession from him.
He conveyed through his fiction all he had to say on the subject.
Besides, there are other themes than the paedophilic one, such as "the
good woman" (Disa, Clare Bishop, Zina), or "the dangerous woman" (Nina
Lecerf, Margot, The queen (I forget her name) in KQK) and others, to
which he frequently returns, too.
As for VN's kindness, the way I feel is that he was as kind as John
Shade and as insufferable as Kinbote. this is, I think, what PF is
about.
"Human life can be compared to a person dancing in a variety of forms
around his own self" (Transparent Things)
Carolyn,
I think it is difficult to find evidence of kindness because true
kindness is often invisible: it is of the kind VN described in Lucette's
keeping company to the Robinsons just before committing suicide, or
Disa's being kind to a servant despite her discovering yet another proof
of Kinbote's infidelity.
Laurence Hochard
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class=Apple-style-span><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Garamond; FONT-SIZE:
12px" class=Apple-style-span>On Apr 28, 2010, at 10:25 PM, Anthony
Stadlen wrote: <SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
class=Apple-style-span>Dear Carolyn, You write: << You say that he is
not honest and that his readers are entitled to expect honesty: I don't
think so. Nobody could be "honest" about such a thing and we, readers
are not his judges, are not in any way "entitled" to expect a full
confession from him. >>
Dear Mr Stadlen,
No idea what you are talking about - - I never wrote any such thing.
Carolyn Kunin
***
[Anthony Stadlen was quoting a post written not by Carolyn Kunin but
from Laurence Hochard, which is reprinted below. -- SES]
Dear Anthony,
In his "Speak, Nabokov", Micha�l Maar discusses this and is of the
opinion that VN was intimately concerned by this theme and that he
progressively lowered his guard (from "Ada" on) and finally indulged
himself in TOOL.
You say that he is not honest and that his readers are entitled to
expect honesty: I don't think so. Nobody could be "honest" about such a
thing and we, readers are not his judges, are not in any way "entitled"
to expect a full confession from him.
He conveyed through his fiction all he had to say on the subject.
Besides, there are other themes than the paedophilic one, such as "the
good woman" (Disa, Clare Bishop, Zina), or "the dangerous woman" (Nina
Lecerf, Margot, The queen (I forget her name) in KQK) and others, to
which he frequently returns, too.
As for VN's kindness, the way I feel is that he was as kind as John
Shade and as insufferable as Kinbote. this is, I think, what PF is
about.
"Human life can be compared to a person dancing in a variety of forms
around his own self" (Transparent Things)
Carolyn,
I think it is difficult to find evidence of kindness because true
kindness is often invisible: it is of the kind VN described in Lucette's
keeping company to the Robinsons just before committing suicide, or
Disa's being kind to a servant despite her discovering yet another proof
of Kinbote's infidelity.
Laurence Hochard
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/