Subject
Book of the Century (fwd)
Date
Body
Are Forum members aware that some months ago Pale Fire was chosen for the
London Daily Telegraph's weekly column "Book of the Century" by author
William Boyd?
On the 3rd April 1999 Auberon Waugh followed up this choice by selecting
Lolita, for the same slot. The enfant Auberon describes Pale Fire as
"undoubtedly the more finely written of the two". Its purpose was "to
ridicule the pretension and egomania of academic criticism", but, because
Nabokov overestimated the intelligence of his readership, the book failed.
Not a single English department at any university has been closed down.
The "effect of Lolita, by contrast, has been enormous". It is described as
about a 37-year-old professor and "a 12-year-old schoolgirl called Dolores
Haze, who seduces and later deserts him". Now, as a result of this book, "we
all agree that paedophilia is wrong. At last we have a common, shared
morality. This is quite an achievement for a mere novelist".
Waugh also remarks that Lolita "has all the perverse humour, the irony and
unexpectedness of Nabokov's other masterpieces."
I wonder if Forum members have any comments?
Charles Harrison Wallace
London Daily Telegraph's weekly column "Book of the Century" by author
William Boyd?
On the 3rd April 1999 Auberon Waugh followed up this choice by selecting
Lolita, for the same slot. The enfant Auberon describes Pale Fire as
"undoubtedly the more finely written of the two". Its purpose was "to
ridicule the pretension and egomania of academic criticism", but, because
Nabokov overestimated the intelligence of his readership, the book failed.
Not a single English department at any university has been closed down.
The "effect of Lolita, by contrast, has been enormous". It is described as
about a 37-year-old professor and "a 12-year-old schoolgirl called Dolores
Haze, who seduces and later deserts him". Now, as a result of this book, "we
all agree that paedophilia is wrong. At last we have a common, shared
morality. This is quite an achievement for a mere novelist".
Waugh also remarks that Lolita "has all the perverse humour, the irony and
unexpectedness of Nabokov's other masterpieces."
I wonder if Forum members have any comments?
Charles Harrison Wallace