Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0012104, Sun, 20 Nov 2005 17:09:59 -0800

Subject
Re: Fwd: HH's age
Date
Body
I rather *would* forget Mrs Dalloway myself, frankly. James Bond was
37 yo in Fleming's Casino Royale. How old was Leopold Bloom?
40, wasn't he--one would have said 50 or more and that he
was a dirty old man, too.
-
Peter Hayes



>Another exception to this rule is J.R.Tolkien - his heros' adventures
begin
>only when they reach the ripe age of 50...
>And let's not forget Mrs.Dalloway. I'm sure there are more examples.
>IK
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
>To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
>Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 4:50 PM
>Subject: Re: Fwd: HH's age
>
>
>> Dear Don and List
>>
>> When I first read Lolita I was half again as old as Lo, and HH was twice
>> my age; I had him firmly pegged as a dirty old man, two years older than
>> my father.
>>
>> In Alison Lurie's "Foreign Affairs" the fifty-something heroine muses on
>> the ages of fictional characters. To be a principal you must be young;
in
>> literature there are no heroes or heroines aged 35-plus. Anything older
>> than that is a a perry, a walk-on, a supporting role, a character part.
>> The cruellest stage review I ever read was by Beryl Bainbridge -- no
>> spring chicken herself -- who wrote that Maggie Smith was "too old to be
>> considered female".
>>
>> Does VN consistently break the "ageist" tradition in fiction? I can
think
>> straight away of my good friend John Shade.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Tom (Rymour)
>>
>> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>

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