Subject
Puzzling Nabokov reference in DFW's _A Supposedly..._ (fwd)
Date
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From: Juan Martinez <pigbodine@hotmail.com>
"The episcopate of this pop-reference movement were the post-Nabokovian
Black Humorists, the Metafictionists and assorted franc- and
latinophiles only later comprised by 'postmodern.'"
DFW is of course referring to Gaddis, Barth and Pynchon... He doesn't
mention Nabokov later on, but there seems to be an unspoken assumption
that these writers could not have written what they did w/o VN.
Hermeneutical and pop-conscious style aside (say, using "w/o" for
"without" and using "schema" in a sentence about Midwestern weather w/o
blushing), it is a marvelous book... A bit like what would happen to
his _Infinite Jest_ if somebody took out the plot. The hype seems
warranted. One wonders what Nabokov would have made of him---I think
he'd have quibbles with DFW's rather lax use of words and those long,
seemingly endless sentences with dangling participles and neologisms
a-plenty and way too many pop-references, not to mention the use of
"way" as a modifier, all of which, by the way, is a bit infectious.
Regards,
Juan
------------------------------------------------------
"Speak softly
Drive a Sherman tank,
Laugh hard,
It's a long way to the bank."
---They Might Be Giants, _Rhythm Section Want Ad_
______________________________________________________
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"The episcopate of this pop-reference movement were the post-Nabokovian
Black Humorists, the Metafictionists and assorted franc- and
latinophiles only later comprised by 'postmodern.'"
DFW is of course referring to Gaddis, Barth and Pynchon... He doesn't
mention Nabokov later on, but there seems to be an unspoken assumption
that these writers could not have written what they did w/o VN.
Hermeneutical and pop-conscious style aside (say, using "w/o" for
"without" and using "schema" in a sentence about Midwestern weather w/o
blushing), it is a marvelous book... A bit like what would happen to
his _Infinite Jest_ if somebody took out the plot. The hype seems
warranted. One wonders what Nabokov would have made of him---I think
he'd have quibbles with DFW's rather lax use of words and those long,
seemingly endless sentences with dangling participles and neologisms
a-plenty and way too many pop-references, not to mention the use of
"way" as a modifier, all of which, by the way, is a bit infectious.
Regards,
Juan
------------------------------------------------------
"Speak softly
Drive a Sherman tank,
Laugh hard,
It's a long way to the bank."
---They Might Be Giants, _Rhythm Section Want Ad_
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com