Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004613, Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:07:59 -0800

Subject
Re: Nabokov and Ronald Firbank (fwd)
Date
Body
From: A. D. Alvarez <aalvarez@spectra.net>

>
> From: Iann88@aol.com
>
> Has anybody seen the similarities between Charles Kinbote in Pale Fire and
> Ronald Firbank, especially Firbank's literary style -- "the Gulf of
> Surprise!" And Firbank's artful, artificial scenic descriptions of his
> exotic, fantasy locals? Let's hear it from all you Firbankians. If Nabokov
> is using parody in Pale Fire, surely Firbank fits the character of Kinbote
> to a T.
>
> Phil Iannarelli
> Cleveland, Ohio

Yes. I was basing a Ph.D. critical dissertation on it. Unfortunately,
I found no evidence that VN had ever read Firbank or any other fancy
prose gay texts, so the idea as merely "speculative". It was suggested
to me that a speculative dissertaton project on Nabokov -- say, a kind
of intertextual queer reading -- wouldn't be looked upon kindly by the
critical industry, so I abandoned it.

The heartbreak was so profound -- I dedicated a year to this project --
that I gave up on critical writing and committed myself to a creative
dissertation for my English Ph.D.

Cheers,
Aldo Alvarez

--

Aldo Alvarez
Aa : Aldo Alvarez sited : http://www.blithe.com/aa/
Editor, Blithe House Quarterly : a site for gay short fiction : http://www.blithe.com/