Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007324, Tue, 31 Dec 2002 11:50:33 -0800

Subject
Susan Sontag, camp, and Nabokov
Date
Body
EDNOTE. Susan Sontag has introduced VN at least once and spoken well of his
writing elsewhere. If VN has spoken of SS, I do not recall it. I would guess
that any linkage of their names is that SS's "camp" essay and book _Against
Interpretation_ made a splash in the sixties when VN was among the most
heard names on the American literary scene.

From: <VainerVi@aol.com>


I am trying to find the most accurate Russian translation/equivalent
for the
word "sensibility" as it's been used in Susan Sontag's essay Notes on
"Camp."
I know all the options our dictionaries provide, and I hope I
understand, albeit somewhat vaguely, what Susan Sontag had in mind. The word
is a key term for the essay, so it would be great to hear the experts'
opinion(s).

I am sure that many of my fellow Nabokovians know Susan Sontag and this
particular essay (Notes on "Camp"). To refresh their memory, I include the
first 1.5 paragraph of it here:

"Many things in the world have not been named; and many things, even if
they have been named, have never been described. One of these is the
sensibility -- unmistakably modern, a variant of sophistication but hardly
identical with it -- that goes by the cult name of "Camp."
A sensibility (as distinct from an idea) is one of the hardest things to
talk about..."

Actually, when you come to think about it, these two subjects
(Nabokov and "Camp") do not look completely unrelated. I may be wrong, but
to my taste it could ignite a fruitful discussion.

Victoria
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