Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0002962, Fri, 20 Mar 1998 09:10:49 -0800

Subject
Re: back to the books! (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Brian Phillips <bphillips@western.edu>

In re the current string about possible identification, on Nabokov's
or our part, with H.H. in Lo, I just read the novel with two sections of
Freshman Lit students at a, how shall I say, less than Ivy League four-year
state college. They, for the most part, were able to separate the artistic
creation from the artist, and in fact enjoyed the myriad manipulations of
their reading process by VN, once they understood his artistic creed, so to
speak. These were less than sophisticated readers, for the most part, and
if, after some prompting, they could grasp the distinction between theme
and its treatment, why does the general public, or the "purportedly moral
minority", have such a difficult time?
bp


At 08:29 AM 3/20/98 -0800, you wrote:
>From: Thomas Braun <cawriter@sprynet.com>
>
>
>May I offer my two cents on the current Lolita film flap? It seems to
>me that we are losing our focus here. We are allowing this forum to be
>overtaken by concerns about film in general and Adrian Lyne in
>particular. Nothing against either of these; however, we are supposed
>to discussing Vladimir Nabokov, a writer of books. The last time I
>checked, VN's novels have not been banned or otherwise snuffed out of
>existence. Let's please get back to the books! Until we do, you will
>hear no "Laughter in the Dark" from me, "Despair"-ing as I am that the
>"Transparent Things" that are film images have caused us to lose "The
>Eye" to see the "Glory" of "The Gift" of "The Enchanter," VN.
>
>Thomas E. Braun
>cawriter@sprynet.com
>
>
We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)