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Fw: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3436 PALE FIRE
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EDNOTE. And on the lighter side....
----- Original Message -----
From: "pynchon-l-digest" <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: <pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 12:00 AM
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3436
>
> pynchon-l-digest Wednesday, July 23 2003 Volume 02 : Number
3436
>
>
>
> NPPF - Blast From The Past
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 21:54:14 -0700
> From: "s~Z" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: NPPF - Blast From The Past
>
> from http://www.geocities.com/medss/starr.htm:
>
> "Pale Fire" is another work of Nabokov's which is an obvious literary
> precursor of The Starr Report. This consists of the last poem written by
> John Shade, a recently murdered poet, along with a preface, lengthy notes
> and an index by his editor. This mirrors the structure of Starr's magnum
> opus, with its myriad sections and subsections. Furthermore, the actual
poem
> "Pale Fire" is a restrained and often moving retrospective, but the
> increasingly unhinged editor puts his own fantastical interpretation on
the
> whole work that oozes out of every footnote, just as Starr's determination
> to do Clinton in is obvious at each step. The eccentric editor of "Pale
> Fire" feels persecuted and complains about enemies in academia and the
> non-co-operation of Shade's wife; Starr moans "this office extended six
> separate invitations to testify," further proof of Clinton's guilt.
>
> The Starr Report is Nabokovian in many other ways. The similarity of the
> names "Monica" and "Lolita"; early in Nabokov's novel, the narrator rolls
> the trisyllable "Lo-lee-ta" off his tongue, as we can imagine Starr doing
> ("Mon-ic-ah") as, having made her life misery, the offer of immunity
allowed
> him to reel in his quarry. Indeed "Ken Starr" is a rather vacuous,
identikit
> name, reminiscent of "John Shade", and surely without too much imagination
> can be made to symbolise something ("persecuting zeal" perhaps?) The gifts
> the two lovers exchanged were a mix of the high-mindedness and the absurd;
> from Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" to "Oy Vey! The Things They Say! A book
of
> Jewish wit" (one can imagine Nabokov having fun thinking that title up) to
> "a mug emblazoned 'Santa Monica'" to "a letter opener depicting a frog."
The
> sad comedy of the line "Many of the 30 or so gifts that she gave to the
> President reflected his interests in history, antiques, cigars and frogs"
is
> pure Nabokov.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of pynchon-l-digest V2 #3436
> ********************************
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to waste@waste.org
> with "unsubscribe pynchon-l-digest" in the message body.
----- Original Message -----
From: "pynchon-l-digest" <owner-pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
To: <pynchon-l-digest@waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 12:00 AM
Subject: pynchon-l-digest V2 #3436
>
> pynchon-l-digest Wednesday, July 23 2003 Volume 02 : Number
3436
>
>
>
> NPPF - Blast From The Past
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 21:54:14 -0700
> From: "s~Z" <keithsz@concentric.net>
> Subject: NPPF - Blast From The Past
>
> from http://www.geocities.com/medss/starr.htm:
>
> "Pale Fire" is another work of Nabokov's which is an obvious literary
> precursor of The Starr Report. This consists of the last poem written by
> John Shade, a recently murdered poet, along with a preface, lengthy notes
> and an index by his editor. This mirrors the structure of Starr's magnum
> opus, with its myriad sections and subsections. Furthermore, the actual
poem
> "Pale Fire" is a restrained and often moving retrospective, but the
> increasingly unhinged editor puts his own fantastical interpretation on
the
> whole work that oozes out of every footnote, just as Starr's determination
> to do Clinton in is obvious at each step. The eccentric editor of "Pale
> Fire" feels persecuted and complains about enemies in academia and the
> non-co-operation of Shade's wife; Starr moans "this office extended six
> separate invitations to testify," further proof of Clinton's guilt.
>
> The Starr Report is Nabokovian in many other ways. The similarity of the
> names "Monica" and "Lolita"; early in Nabokov's novel, the narrator rolls
> the trisyllable "Lo-lee-ta" off his tongue, as we can imagine Starr doing
> ("Mon-ic-ah") as, having made her life misery, the offer of immunity
allowed
> him to reel in his quarry. Indeed "Ken Starr" is a rather vacuous,
identikit
> name, reminiscent of "John Shade", and surely without too much imagination
> can be made to symbolise something ("persecuting zeal" perhaps?) The gifts
> the two lovers exchanged were a mix of the high-mindedness and the absurd;
> from Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" to "Oy Vey! The Things They Say! A book
of
> Jewish wit" (one can imagine Nabokov having fun thinking that title up) to
> "a mug emblazoned 'Santa Monica'" to "a letter opener depicting a frog."
The
> sad comedy of the line "Many of the 30 or so gifts that she gave to the
> President reflected his interests in history, antiques, cigars and frogs"
is
> pure Nabokov.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of pynchon-l-digest V2 #3436
> ********************************
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to waste@waste.org
> with "unsubscribe pynchon-l-digest" in the message body.