Why Everything Everyone Tells You About Nabokov is Probably Wrong
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- This video is about Nabokov Laughter 1 for Ultimate Beginners.
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I’ve read Nabokov had synesthesia, a condition where senses cross, and the person hears colors, feels sounds, etc. Could explain the rich layers in his writing. I love his story Wingstroke.
Yeah, quite possibly. Though most good prose writers use that technique. But no writers (that I know of) would sit up all night in their car writing novels on six-by-eight file cards! Glad to have you listening and reading!
DreamingCatStudio "Synesthesia" I think you mean. Odd guess but English spelling has odder I suppose.
Véra and Dmitri (their son and only child) also had color-letter synesthesia.
I have letter/phoneme/color associations with the chromatic musical scale - not just with the twelve « pure » individual notes themselves, but additional colors and complexions and light effects which appear, along with more complex phonemes, when various intervals are sounded simultaneously as (open 4ths/5ths, major/minor 3rds/6ths, major/minor 7ths and 9th/13ths, which is a bit funny to me given how disparaging Nabokov pretended to be of jazz, knowing full well these chords were stolid upstanding -and fully participating citizens in the Romantic composer’s toolkit). A total of 66 different colors and letters/sounds, according to my best count.
The good news is that - unbidden as they are - they are not particularly distracting or “loud” in my mind’s eye that they keep me from hearing music, or writing a line of prose or verse, pretty much the way most people probably do it. (In fact, the colors are only clear and unencumbered - particularly the neon and firework inflections of the complex chords - when my eyes are shut, and that’s also when letters appear.) I can’t rell you whether they’ve been a creative aid - it’s heen my lot since I was four years old and beginning to study piano- but they are EXTREMELY helpful as musical mnemonics, a way of keeping a melody or a verse passage in mind after a single sitting.
[E-flat major for me, by the way, is the color of a dollar bill with a thread of gold woven into it, which makes the Overture to Das Rheingold a particularly pleasant experience, almost as if Wagner had me in mind.
For some reason, F-sharp Major and F-sharp Minor are black and white - no color whatsoever - with the former a kind of orderly checkerboard, the latter a zebra-striped cross-hatched kaleidoscope.]
Véra and Vladimir were amused that Dmitri’s synesthesia was inherited from them, and apparently hybridized several of their color/letter associations, creating pastels. I can’t speak at all to what husband and wife “saw”, however, it’s been many years since I read their account - all synesthetes are different and, apart feom the amusement, have little use in comparing notes with others. Why learn the playbook of someone else’s card game, if you’ll never be playing their solitaire or vice-versa?
DreamingCatStudio he is my favorite writer, and I can relate kind of! When I see highlighter-bright colors like yellow or pink, or neon signs, I can taste ink in my mouth. If I have a pain in my body, it has a color. Often white. And it the strongest with music. A song is either made of circles, triangles or squares, and my brain hates songs that feel like squares! It comes and goes, it’s not all the time but pretty often. I think I’m just broken. But as I good older I do use these sensations to inspire my writing.
@@davidmehnert6206 I've loved both Nabokov AND jazz for more than 50 years. For a while I thought there was something inherently contradictory or "wrong" about this. I struggled, believing that it was necessary to reconcile in some way my favorite author's expressed disdain for a music I adored, and still adore, which is in fact also often disdained by many classical, and other musicians and music lovers. Jazz music is derided by people for various reasons, for being "primitive" unrefined, or vulgar. Ironically it is often detested for almost the opposite reason - for being too technically complex, inaccessible, and abstract - compared to various popular or folk musics. And a British fellow once wrote mockingly "Jazz! They just make it up as they go along." It is indeed in large part improvised, though it's creators must surmount many technical and artistic hurdles, in order to be able to play well. Now, improvisation, indeed spontaneity of any sort was anathema to VN's artistic modus operandi. He admired greatly Flaubert for taking months to produce a few pages. Pale Fire's protagonist, poet John Shade, calculated that it took him "roughly a thousand minutes of work to produce fifty lines" (or one syllable every two minutes!). And in Strong Opinions, VN wrote only semi-jestingly that his pencils outlasted his erasers - in other words, he crafts his prose so carefully, so painstakingly, as to render as perfect a result as possible, that time itself becomes his least concern - indeed, no concern at all. When interviews were requested, he insisted on writing out his answers in advance, leaving absolutely nothing to chance that could in turn become misconstrued or misquoted. So how, I wondered, could I love two approaches to artistry that seemed so diametrically opposed?
I finally relaxed and realized that it is quite possible to love both of these quite distinct art forms (as no doubt millions do), and to do so without suffering any intellectual compromise, superficiality or lack of sincerity or integrity. One key to this was, no doubt, further reading of Strong Opinions, in particular a segment wherein he explained quite clearly that he had essentially NO ear for music of any kind - not just jazz. He lamented this since in fact his son Dmitri was an accomplished tenor opera singer. A great portion of the author's genius was indeed passed to his offspring, yet it gestated into a different form of expression.
I believe that this absence of musical appreciation was evident in VN's writing. There are no passages, no sense of, no description of musicality, or of the sensuality of music present anywhere in his writing (that I know of). Contrast this with Kafka, for example, or Proust - two writers that he admired enormously.
Middle class? If you Read memory speak to me it should be very clear that he is as upper class as is possible
Sebastiaan Wets yeh this might be that stupid old boomer mentality in america that everyone is middle class which helps them avoid dealing with class
Starphysics Hateful, hateful...
This answer is not accurate. Nabokov enjoyed the aristocratic status only during first 18 years of his life, and then his family lost almost everything due to revolution 1917. Culturally he retained his aristocratism, but not money-wise. Only with Lolita he became financially "independent", otherwise he would remain just a professeur of literature with a modest income.
@@OttoIncandenza True. Well put, too.
@@DenisYutbr True, but since he was still born into aristocracy, he cannot be placed in the 'middle class' category - it is not only about money.
Excellent video. Good to see someone as fond of Nabokov as I am. My favorite book of his is Pale Fire. Not sure why, it just latched on to me and never let go.
• INIEL • that is a great one! And we have done several talks on it in the bathtub! Scott
You don’t need to know why; the emotions elicited are reason enough.
Pale Fire is a work of genius because every reader will read Pale Fire differently because it has no fixed structure. Infact, one cant read it a second or third time and experience it as the same book...
Hilarious everyone dismisses the obvious engagement & seduction of the READER within a magic net of paedophila…and nobody is at all disturbed inside this seductive literary cocoon…Nabokov’s popularity seems to reflect the same progression as other writers whose ‘notorious’ books first outraged, then became critical darlings. I doubt his works will continue to fascinate after the salacious & outrageous subject matter palls over time…
He had utter contempt for the pseudo - science of Psychoanalysis too !
And wasn't afraid to say so. Another reason to admire him...?
He definitely hated Freud, called him a "Viennese quack," as I recall... tho I still kind of like Freud myself, but maybe not in the bathtub... s
Nabokov is arguably the best novelist in the English language after Joyce. His own life story is quite simply AMAZING! Do check out the TH-cam documentary film of him from 1965 where he is living in Montreux, Switzerland, where he explains his card index method of writing.
I wish i could write like Nabokov
How does one develop that ability to string words with that impossibly beautiful flow? How does one attain that level?
I think it goes: practice, practice, read, bathe, read, practice, practice etc. WHILE being a genius. There are exasperating aspects to much Nabokov, but his stuff is always brilliantly worked-out. Keep reading good writers and eventually you should get somewhere in the vicinity!
@@Scottmbradfield Agreed, there is always the problem that we only see the finished product and have (in most cases) no way of working backward to explore their technique, the endless corrections, the hours of straining over sentences, and as you show in this great video, the only way we possibly can, without having access to his early drafts, is to explore the writer's earlier works. Nabokov is not God, he did not 'make something out of nothing'.
It's not *only* practice. You have to study the structure of language and etymologies, word sounds, wordplay, and how to put together sentences with rhythm.
As much as Nabokov's style is fun to imitate, it's better to learn from him rather than imitate him. Learn from him and develop your own style. That's what he'd probably advocate for.
Practice the basics. Do daily exercises of the basic techniques. PoV, dialogues, trialogues, multilogues, movement in space and in time, settings, and other basics. Write a page with movement in space and time every second line, with words of one syllable each. Then give yourself a bonus two-syllable word every third line. Change the pace. Change the PoV. Lengthen the sentences. Shorten the paragraphs. Change the beginning. Practice, practice. Then again. And again. Daily, yes...
Possibly Lady Chatterley's Lover is a prime example - people go for that first, because of it's notoriety, - but it's a far cry from Lawrence's best. Could explain why he's gone out of fashion, despite being one of the great short story writers.
Yeah, DHL's short stories are great, I agree.
@@Scottmbradfield
Some of Lawrence's poetry was particularly fine, as well, though not generally from a technical perspective. The power of his best poems lies in the tremendous emotion he invested in them.
Reading his first book Mashen'ka (written in Russian in Berlin) is eye opening - 27 years old Nabokov produced a brilliant brilliant book. Writing a book is a hard work but some people have it and some don't.
That's translated into English as MARY, I think. I read it but don't remember it very well. Nice having you in. the bathtub, Tomas. s
I agree with many of Mr Bradfield's observations, and enjoyed the clip! But I must call out one thing Nabokov himself made quite clear in writing in 1973 - the correct placement of the stress accent in his last name. It should fall on the second syllable, not the first - that is, on the first 'o': Na BOCK off. For many years it seemed that few cared about this, until sometime around the mid nineties, when champion player Evgeni Nabokov appeared on the ice hockey scene in America. Then, suddenly, it seemed, one could hear sports announcers around the US saying it correctly.
For my generation, the Police and their song Don’t Stand So Close to Me had us all pronouncing it wrong.
Get. To. The. Point.
I was just telling some people about this: I recall enjoying Laughter in the Dark much more than Lolita, though I liked Lolita it did not have the humor of Laughter, the latter being funny as hell. But I read both in portuguese translations a long time ago. I will try to read both in the english.
Scott, your videos are just so addictive! Keep going. love them so much. love Nabokov more than any other writer!!! bless your socks, sir.
They need blessing, TBW, since I never take them off-not even in the bathtub! Come visit and you won't be so famous!
Wow, this video was incredible and simple in a complex way. Just saw an entire lecture on Nabokov but this was better.
Thanks, Man. Now take off that ridiculous mask and get a shave, willya! Stay safe with great books! s
@@Scottmbradfield haha Then they say professors never clone writers into just other professors. Get some exercise you old recluse 😁
Infuriating? Confusing? I started reading Nabokov at 17 and loved him from the outset.
Get real! Use editing if you don't catch your mistakes in the moment they occur. You made "erudite" a 4 syllable word, and you stumble over words to choose the clearly incorrect "exacerbating" when you likely meant "exasperating" - all in first moments of your introduction.
Good luck.
Laughter in the Dark is very theatrical, in the most literal sense. Each scene would make a perfect stage performance, which one envisions when reading it. There's a great 'Chekhov's gun' part. Someone should really bring it to the stage if they haven't already
There was a movie version but I don't think I've seen it... one of my favorite novels...
Thanks for existing Sir ♥️. You made the video worthwhile and engaging.
The feeling is mutual, Yasmin! Stay safe! s
@@Scottmbradfield Thanks. You too and keep posting♥️’
There are some authors you can read for the brilliance of their characters, some for the brilliance of their plots, some for the brilliance of their style of writing, some for the brilliance of their social commentary. Nabokov is one of only two authors that I’ve read that I could read for any of those reasons, and find equal enjoyment in. He’s a literary writer who hasn’t forgotten the audience
and who’s the second author?
I have the same feeling with Houellebecq. I absolutely love reading his books, because they're actually fun. His writing doesn't really care about social commentary, yet he makes use of this current trend of "socially aware" literature to create these so-called utopian settings in which his characters aren't übermenschen, but still flawed and somewhat careless human beings. It's funny to me, because it usurps all these intellectuals who try to constantly cause an outrage over things that are so so normal and probably will never disappear entirely because of our human nature.
Personally, he's a step up from Nabokov because Nabokov is rarely funny. He's more like Kafka in that regard and they share the fact that they shouldn't be taken too seriously. They just like poking fun at these systems people rely on, even though those systems are incredibly flawed and completely out of your control. Sadly, intellectuals can't cope nor laugh with reality, so the bobo's in Paris hate his guts. For me, he's the best French writer ever. Fuck Artaud. Fuck Proust. Any artist who can upset the current elite should be praised. It's Houellebecq for me.
@@youthforever4924 Faulkner
When I read people I'm told are great writers, I can't get past page 2. People like Roth, or Updike.
When I read The Great Gatsby, A Clockwork Orange, Catcher In The Rye --- I couldn't stop.
Yeah I know how you feel. What other people tell you you should like just doesn't fit into your particular bathtub. Me, I like Updike but not Roth so much, and all those others (except Clockwork Orange.) Stay safe and Home At Last! Scott
The description of "great" creates expectation that can lead to disappointment. For some, it is better to discover writers and works by themselves. But I still think it is useful to describe artists and art as great, as long as that is a sincerely held opinion. It promotes honest perception, and leads others to seek out those works which may indeed be central to a given tradition.
'A Clockwork Orange', incidentally, is one of my favorite novels.
Nabokov was not a middle-class man! Other than that this is not bad.
(Picnic/Lightening)…Enough said.
What is your take on Nabokov's notions about "reading with one's spine" as it relates to Narrative Mapping, Geo-Literature and so on?
Love the video you made the content really engaging Just started reading Pale Fire this is my first Nabokov novel and I am loving it. The way he seems to be making fun of academic critiques of great works of art and really playing with the form of a novel. What would you suggest is the best way to read pale fire as it clearly requires rereads...
Hamid Hussain yeah he loves to make fun of useless academic bullshit artists! Who doesn't? Enjoy Pale Fire!
Very beautiful and clear presentation. Greetings from Greece, Scott.
Welcome to the bathtub! Want me to put you on our map-what part of Greece, and what name should I use? Happy bathing!
We know that Nabokov was autistic, for example diagnosed by Michael Fitzgerald.
Nabokov was brilliant and Lolita was beautifully written. I have never understood the fascination with Lolita..he was so much more than that one book. Thank you for this video and I hope others watch it. xx
Thanks, Nicole. S
It’s because people who don’t read (reed)-read it (red). Sometimes that does more harm than good. If Vlad was a singer, he’d be a bit underground but then suddenly one of his songs break though to the a.m. radio crowd and all of a sudden that’s the song he becomes associated with, even if he has much better songs.
Writing books and catching butterflies 🦋 marvelous! Me it’s the bees and me frolicking in my vegetable garden in the summer. The Iliad transported me when I was 12…and it’s all been Greek to me ever since. Hey, read Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther book 13, Greeks Bearing Gifts, not quite on his death bed but grappling with the end….I think you’ll like it Scott.
Thanks for the rec, Larry! s
look forward to learning more Scott coming from I Pornographer biography of Michael J Freeman A place I sure need to learn on story telling. Linda
Thanks, Linda. Happy hols! S
I love his writing. Any other writers that you guys recomend? Controversial or not.
Armando Luna welcome! Yeah we recommend writers every week here at the bathtub! Scott
Yeah, the future of writing is COMEDY. This is where the best shit is. If you're into weird out there naratives. You want a delicious weird novel? Becket's WATT is a drug free acid trip- a completely standard narative that leaves you asking "what the fuck did I just read?
A lot of good debunking of popular misconceptions concerning VN re: Lolita. I see you've done some long-form vids on Pale Fire and Laughter in the Dark too. What are your thoughts on my personal favourite, Ada (Адa)?
I need to give Ada another good slow reads through; I had trouble the first time, and less trouble the second time, but I suspect I still need to give it more of my time... I REALLY like the late, unfairly disparaged Look at the Harlequins! though... where are you located with your Cyrillic script? Want to join the IBA by simply giving me a location and a name to post it with?
@@Scottmbradfield I've found it to be his most rewarding work. I completely agree with you re: late VN. 'Transparent Things' is similarly undervalued and understudied (and for the matter Ada too.)
If I had to posit a guess as to why his late period received relatively little attention it would be due to the 'failure' of Ada to reach a broader audience like Lolita did. Of course, we must presume that VN understood very well that he would never again have another success of that magnitude, but the use of the incest theme suggests to me that he was trying to arouse another 'moral' controversy (which, of course, never did occur). Moreover while I found the novel a delight, too many times I've heard from critics and casual readers of the 'unlike-ability' of the novel on grounds of both difficulty textually, and a dislike of Van/Ada as characters. I've heard it suggested that VN made the novel deliberately 'difficult/unlikeable', (e.g the opening of the book which introduces to us very quickly, and in very dense prose, the fictional family tree of Russian-American aristocrats in a near-Earth, and then in another highly cryptic discussion of the botanical specimens collected "en regard" by Marina, learn that Van and Ada are in fact not cousins, but siblings: ""I deduce," said the boy, "three main facts: that not yet married Marina and her married sister hibernated in my liue de naissance; that Marina had her own Dr. Krolik, pour ainsi dire; and that the orchids came from Demon who preferred to stay by the seas, his dark-blue great-grandmother."") as a means of 'weeding out uncommitted readers' or something along that line, always seemed a bit exaggerated and the actual plot is easy to follow.
It's good to compare the 'difficulty' of Ada with Nabby's other most 'academic' work, Pale Fire. PF offers a lot of pleasure and humour, even on a 'surface level', whilst still containing a lot of more hidden material and density that will inform further reads. Meanwhile, Ada, though not Finnegan's Wake, does seem somewhat less accessible for a 'surface read.' I think Boyd somewhere called it 'easily his richest and most deep novel.' On the whole, meaning Ada received little critical or popular attention, and this (lack of) momentum carried forward into his publications in his late career. That's my theory.
I'm not a native Russian speaker. I've just always thought it instructive to view the title/character through the English and Russian lens. Etymologically, the English name Ada roughly descends from the Germanic adel, meaning 'nobility.' Whilst the Russian cognate 'Адa' literally translates as 'of Hell' or 'From Hell.' Anyone who's read the book will see the consequences and corollaries. Knowing a bit of Russian aids immensely in reading Ada (and to a somewhat lesser all of VN's other work, obviously). I say particularly in Ada because this is where he uses anagrams and plays with things etymologically the most. Sometimes these sort of word games aren't that valuable, but when its Nabokov you know he's always up to something :) I would give an example but there are so many to choose from.
What's the IBA?
Yeah sounds right. I also recall the late stuff coming out (like Ada) and being excerpted as more "dirty stories" from the author of Lolita etc., and if there's anything ADA isn't, it's a Playboy excerpt.
We will definitely get to ADA some day when the bathwater can sustain it.
The IBA is a pointless organization that costs nothing and provides nothing and entitles you to read books in the bathtub forever and ever, and we put your name on a Google map. It's very prestigious.
Keep bathing, Jackson!
Scott
@@Scottmbradfield Ha! It's funny you mention Playboy. About 7 pages of Ada were included in Playboy Magazine Vol 16 nº 04 April 1969 :) I'd include the cover image but I suppose you might want to look that up yourself.
I'm from Sydney, Australia.
Happy to have found your channel.
@@jacksonpowers6423 great having you in the b bathtub, Jackson! Yeah, Playboy often pubbed stuff by Nabokov after Lolita, and continually disappointed everybody who learned that he didn't write porn!
You're on the incredibly prestigious map of the IBA, joining several illustrious Antipodeans (?). Here's a link:
drive.google.com/open?id=1Tc7RT3iL24ErPt8HJgjXj4m5Pey1HnSi&usp=sharing
And here's a link to our Facebook page announcing you!
facebook.com/groups/702202229874384/
In a time without the internet and access to extreme pornography/fantasy fulfillment=
Art worked.
Whether drawings or explicit works, these are all pseudo-porn and sin masquerading as something beautiful.
" I see nothing for the treatment of my misery but the melancholy and very local palliative of articulate art." [VN]
That opening of Laughter announces that what makes the novel great isn't the plot. It's the way he uses the plot to create the important deceptions that he was most interested in. He wanted to create sentences that were masterpieces. Of course he would be happy if somebody finished his novel and said, "Oh boy, first this happened and then this happened and then this really cool thing happend and..." He'd be happy they liked remembering the events. But he wouldn't feel at all seen as an artist.
I'm not claiming he wanted to hear people go on and on about the details of his sentences that make them so addictive. But he clearly filled his novels with allusions to very subtle structural elements of other great works, and he obviously wanted to describe mundane details in ways that kept the reader entranced. Those were what kept him up late at night. Yes, his plots are engaging, too.
But he could have just written each of his books in the manner of how open Laughter. That opening tells you the big strokes without hardly using one sparkling modifer. Then he immediately gets down to the business of showing off as one of the greatest writers we've known. I can't wait to go back and read Laughter. Not because I miss the plot points or the events. It's because I miss the experience he created in moving from sentence to sentence. Pure magic.
Lolita may be the funniest novel I’ve ever read. When I wasn’t laughing, I was smiling.
Just started the video and I’m already agreeing lil bro. My lil bro, you are my lil bro. Lil bro
You my friend have earned a subscriber.
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is about 2 morons: Sebastian and his brother (the author). Any writer who entitles his novels 'The Doubtful Asphodel' and 'The Prismatic Bezel' is not writing a 'page-turner', or for that matter, a 'first page turner'. The narrator of RLoSK believes his brother is a great novelist which also earns him 'moron' status.
May I ask which one is your favorite Nabokov novel and why?
PRAGJYOTISH BHUYAN GOGOI hi. I probably can't explain why, but the books I have enjoyed rereading most often are Lolita and Laughter in the Dark. With maybe Pale Fire coming up fast from behind...
@@Scottmbradfield Thank you for your reply. I have read Lolita, Laughter in the dark and am currently reading Pnin. But I can see why 'Lolita' is considered his 'greatest', it's because it probably is. 'Lolita' is Nabokov at his absolute best. Pnin also, I am discovering to be quite engaging and I think it is going to be a second on my list. Nabokov simply doesn't disappoint, probably the greatest prose writer ever in English.
@@pragjyotishbhuyangogoi8363 yeah, Pnin grows on me. I didn't like it at first, but now I look forward to taking it back into the bathtub... S
Pnin was the first one i read so it has a warm place in my heart but for complexity, palefire is crazy good
С самого начала спикер подкупил меня. Браво! С интересом послушаю
I hear he's one of the best
Steve Erickson! I recognize those books anywhere. The sea came in at midnight is one of my favorite books.
Good eye. Great books. Try Amnesiascope, too. A funny one.
I remember reading Amnesiascope years ago. Filled with roaming time zones, bathyspheres, and women afraid of the rain.
great video
I have studied a lot of Nabokov in my MA. Some of it I have loved and at other times, his writing has left me bemused. I really enjoy your approach to reading and literature.
Thanks. I know how you feel about Nabokov, but he's also one of the few difficult writers worth pursuing. Maybe I'll take a stab at one of his best (and most infuriating) novels, Pale Fire, in the next few weeks.
I haven't read Pale Fire as of yet. My favourite of his works is actually Pnin. I never knew that books could make you laugh so much before I had read Pnin. Do you teach at university level by the way? And thank you for reiterating that the most crucial element at the end of the day is enjoying reading and the novel for what it actually is.
I'm semi-retired from Universities, though I taught in them for years. I like Pnin, but my favorite is Laughter in the Dark, with Lolita a close second.
Hitchcock
10:19 & I still don't have any better insight into Nabokov. waste of time.
This is a perfect example of a tedious lecture. He begins by explaining himself and telling us what to think, but provides NO examples for us to think about -- at least at the outset because I just lost patience after a while and tuned out. Lesson: begin with at least one concrete example of what you're talking about and work from there. In order to reach a listener one must first engage his attention. THEN you can preach all you want about your pet theory of what makes good writing.
Nabokov would have been lost without Véra’s conversation, encouragement, and love - but how they worked all that out between them, G-d only knows.
איר מוטער האָט געהאט לאַמעדוואָווניק אין איר הויז אין מאָסקווע, איך אַמאָל געהערט.
איר זון האט קיין קינדער און געשטארבן זעקס יאר צוריק. איך טראַכטן עס איז זיכער צו זאָגן דעם איצט.
I cringed every time he said Nabokov's name. It's ponounced "na-BOAK-off." Other than that, there were not any great insights here. I wanted to relive that scene out of "Annie Hall," where Woody Allen pulls Marshall McLuhan out from behind that display at a movie theater.
i know, why doesn't he know.
Nabokov himself is quoted saying that the bok part of his name is said the same as knickerbocker. Not na-boak-off or na-bah-koff. Na-bok-off.
What a delicate flower you are!
I am just a simple reader without much knowledge about literature but I am fascinated with Nabokov writing. I wish I could read it in Russian!
We are all "simple readers" in the bathtub Natacha! Many of Nabokov's best novels were written in English, or translated by N and his son, so English is all you need! S
Thanks Scott!
@@Scottmbradfield
Nabokov himself translated 'Lolita' into Russian. He's also known for his Russian translation of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', which I understand has become the standard version of that classic in Russia.
Wait right there a moment, if you would- I've already watched a minute of this video, so I know what I'm talking about. I think the reason that literary education doesn't work is PRECISELY because we study good literature. What English speaking kids should be writing book reports on, is not Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Joyce, Wolf, Beckett, Borges, Kafka nor Cao Xueqin, but on the TV show DOCTOR SHRINKER, a deplorably bad drama that was a sub-show of the muti-show based KROFT SUPER SHOW Saturday morning kid's show of the the 1970's. Anyone watching this gem will gradually become a better writer, not through practice or will power, but through disgust.
I shall now resume watching, as I think this video is quite interesting.
My latest short story is a prequel to _'The Neverending Story.'_
Tentative title: _'The Neverending Short Story.'_
The first premise is incorrect. To be a good writer you are better served by NOT reading other writers. One should write what one wants to read. Unless of course you aim to be a commercialist. Which is not an artist.
Uhh...Portait of the Profiteer as a Young Commercialist.
A very "happy and entitled" man ... Of course, you would connect with "lolita" as you are a man, you are a predator and will never know what it's like to be preyed upon
I'm sorry, but what is your point?
>you are a man, you are a predator and will never know what it's like to be preyed upon
Nabokov was a victim of sexual abuse as a child.
What Novel of his would you recommend to start with as a first time Nabokov reader?
@@bunnygirlerika9489 Lolita. But Laughter in the Dark is a personal favorite…
I think this the beginning of a ....