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The Meanest Things Vladimir Nabokov Said About Other Writers
- joostdevries 9y agoTypefying Hemingway with "bells, balls and bulls" is pretty funny.
- simonsarris 9y agoFor a much better list, see: http://wmjas.wikidot.com/nabokov-s-recommendations http://wmjas.wikidot.com/nabokov-s-recommendations
- stochastic_monk 9y agoIt’s more comprehensive in scope but much less in depth. Thank you for your reference, but I would not prefer your source supersede the OP. I’m glad to have both.
- defen 9y agoSo Nabokov read the complete works of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Flaubert between the ages of 14 and 15. Probably each in their respective original languages. Humbling. Or he's misremembering his childhood :)
- paganel 9y agoYou cannot say anything bad about Stendhal, you just can not. I can understand his opinion on Balzac, because lots of people hate him for how right he was (I personally love him), but Stendhal’s style was just out of this world.
- cafard 9y agoIn general when one writer says snotty things about another, it can simply mean, "I don't see anything here that I can use." As for this list, it is worth mentioning that Nabokov wrote a short book on Gogol, and gives him about 50 pages in the Lectures on Russian Literature.
- hackerbrother 9y agoThe Trump of literature.
- jjtheblunt 9y agoHardly. Nabokov was amazing
- sizzzzlerz 9y agoOther than some English or Russian Lit classes, does anyone read his works these days? I imagine they are like those of other Russian writers, dense prose, too many characters, one thousand page door stops.
- michaelchisari 9y agodense prose, too many characters, one thousand page door stops. You know how I know you haven't read Nabokov?
- thaumasiotes 9y agoI'd look a few words further back, to where the comment explicitly says as much: I imagine [Nabokov's works] are like those of other Russian writers
- et-al 9y agoPale Fire and Lolita only have a handful of characters. If you have time this summer, I recommend reading Lolita. It's more than just a novel about a perverted obsession.
- jjtheblunt 9y agoSame with (Zaschita Luzhina) Luzhin's Defense / The Defense
- V-2 9y agoI also recommend "The Eye" and "Laughter in the Dark". My favourite writer along with Kundera and Lem (does it give me away as a Central European?).
- mazelife 9y agoOf if you just want to dip your toe in the waters, he's written some marvelous short stories. The Visit to the Museum, The Assistant Producer, The Admiralty Spire, and Lik are four favorites of mine.
- Ptyx 9y ago"One can be a lover of Space and its possibilities: take, for example, speed, the smoothness and sword-swish of speed; the aquiline glory of ruling velocity; the joy cry of the curve; and one can be an amateur of Time, an epicure of duration. I delight sensually in Time, in its stuff and spread, in the fall of its folds, in the very impalpability of its grayish gauze, in the coolness of its continuum. I wish to do something about it; to indulge in a simulacrum of possession. I am aware that all who have tried to reach the charmed castle have got lost in obscurity or have bogged down in Space."
- reptation 9y agoHis criticisms of Dostoyesky do not sit well. I've read several of Nabokov's books -- Lolita, Pale Fire, Speak Memory, The Defense, and Invitation to a Beheading. The last 2 are highly recommended and in general the works originally written in Russian are underrated. Nabokov's character development and psychological penetration don't hold a candle to Dostoyevsky's though.
- rsp1984 9y agoI don't have much opinion on literature but I am deeply opinionated on classical music. I wonder if there's a similar list by a composer or music critic about other composers of his/her time. That'd be an interesting read!
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ianamartin 9y agoSir Thomas Beecham was by far the most savage critic that we have documentation for. Musicians have been giving each other shit for a couple of thousand years, but most of it is people who are still famous talking shit about people who no one now has heard of.
- eludwig 9y agoWhen you are this great, I think you can cast some stones. I find his prose achingly beautiful.
- charlysl 9y agoMost dissapointing famous books IMHO: 3. Lolita 2. Catcher in the rye 1. Anne Frank diary