5 ms·

An A from Nabokov

98 points by gruseom 14y ago

habosa 14y ago
Wow. Lit with Nabokov is like taking Algorithms with Knuth. I was filled with jealousy reading that article.
simonsarris 14y ago
Great story. Makes me wonder how Nabokov, a literary critic himself and also pseudonym user ("Vladimir Sirin") to hide from critics[1], would feel about Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. Many content creators regard critics with disdain, until it comes to valuing their own time! And Nabokov is at least partially right[2] about not needing context if the literature is good. You can pick up Lolita, open to any page and begin reading and I guarantee a smile will flash across your face within three pages. ~~~ [1] Nabokov: "Occasionally I used the little silk mask of an additional pen name in order to deceive this or that captious critic—with most gratifying results ("At last a great writer!" cried my favorite Zoilus in 1939)." [2] There are huge bodies of work that, if you have context, you will get a LOT more out of, especially older works. Just as TV shows like Family Guy are a series of culturally-dependent in-jokes, so was a lot of the humor in Shakespeare, Chaucer, etc. And reading Li Bai and Du Fu's poetry is not the same unless you know the details of the An Lushan Rebellion they lived through, which had one of the highest death tolls (5.5%–15.3% of entire world population) of any event in history.
hristov 14y ago
This is a great story! By the way, I do not think the author of the article (Epstein) got away with anything. I am pretty sure Nabokov knew very well that he had not read the book. It is not a coincidence that Nabokov gave him a job reviewing movies afterwards. I think Nabokov read his essay, knew he was describing the movie, but nevertheless liked his writing and thought that Epstein was especially good at describing movies. So Nabokov either thought that he would use Epstein for his own amusement or (more likely) he would try to secretly develop Epstein's talent without telling him that he likes his writing as too much self confidence can be disastrous for a young writer. It seems that Epstein was luckier than he imagined. Although, it also seems that Nabokov gave up on him eventually.
- meshko 14y ago
  Yeah, there is just no way anybody who answers "they are both Russian" to Nabokov can beat him at this game. Even by accident.
ralphleon 14y ago
I enjoyed thinking about what Nabokov was assigning to his students: "Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, and Robert Louis Stevenson" Looks like I'll be reading Metamorphosis( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis) tonight!
- gruseom 14y ago
  Nabokov's lectures on all those writers were published as a book, and it's very good.
  - apetresc 14y ago
    What is it called?
    - gruseom 14y ago
      I forgot that they were split into two: Lectures on Literature and Lectures on Russian Literature. They're all terribly entertaining.
- paganel 14y ago
  Please also give it a try and read Gogol's "Dead Souls". I don't know how to explain it, but I think is the book that best explains the 20th century (even though it was written in the 1840s). Yes, Gogol was that good.
  - gruseom 14y ago
    Dead Souls, absolutely, but also the stories (The Nose and The Overcoat, at a minimum). Gogol is a one-of-a-kind genius. He is one of the funniest writers who ever lived, poignant, and utterly insane in the purest Russian way. He had an enormous influence, all of it good. I love Gogol!
- Steko 14y ago
  Good choice, Nabokov placed Kafka's Metamorphosis second only to Ulysses as a 20th century novel (as of 1965): http://lib.ru/NABOKOW/Inter05.txt http://lib.ru/NABOKOW/Inter05.txt My greatest masterpieces of twentieth century prose are, in this order: Joyce's Ulysses, Kafka's Transformation, Biely's Petersburg, and the first half of Proust's fairy tale In Search of Lost Time.
lenazegher 14y ago
Many themes recur in Nabokov's work. One of the most frequent is the use of fallible narrators and layered levels of implicit plot. This article is decidedly Nabokov-esque: the author feigns ignorance of the connection between describing a movie in perfect detail to Nabokov and then being hired to review movies. It's not a million miles away from the sort of gaff Charles Kinbote might make [1]. Incidentally, I think Pale Fire might appeal to much of the HN crowd. It's frequently read as a dense, finely-wrought mechanical puzzle that might appeal to the coder mindset. Like Nabokov, I'm also a big fan of writing under pseudonyms. It's a very freeing experience. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Fire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Fire Edit: if you like puzzles, it might be better not to spoil the fun by reading the wikipedia article (or indeed any review, or the dust jacket of the book). It would be better to buy the book, start with the foreword by C. Kinbote and read through to the end of the index.
- acabal 14y ago
  Pale Fire is my favorite book of all time. I have a braingasm every time I read it. I first read it as part of a class back in my university days, and it's definitely hard to grasp the incredible intricacy, detail, and even humor in every page without having someone to help guide you in your first reading. A lot of my friends I recommended it too were put off by Kinbote's (seemingly) random meanderings. Having said that though, I highly recommend it to anyone here with even a passing interest in literature. There's a huge corpus of analysis of Pale Fire online, and if you plan to read the novel I highly recommend you simultaneously read one of them. Don't worry too much about spoilers, the beauty of the book is mostly outside of the plot and I think having a guide to help is a benefit to sacrifice for. It's also perfect for e-readers, because you can just use hyperlinks instead of flipping back and forth between footnotes. If anyone wants help with it drop me a line :)
  - bdr 14y ago
    E-reader? Psh, just buy two copies. ;) Have you read any of Brian Boyd's work? I think you'd really like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691089574/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0691089574&linkCode=as2&tag=a01f63-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691089574/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...
telemachos 14y ago
This reminded me of a favorite story of mine about Nabokov and Thomas Pynchon: Pynchon was a student of Nabokov's when he was at Cornell. Years later when Pynchon himself became famous, Nabokov told interviewers that he had no memory of Pynchon as a student. But Vera remembered Pynchon's handwriting. She really was the "course assistant" as this article mentions: she must have done the grading too.
- gruseom 14y ago
  There's also a great story about Pynchon as a student of M.H. Abrams at Cornell: http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/abrams.htm http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/abrams.htm
whatsup 14y ago
Can anyone explain to me why Nabokov lost interest in Epstein at the end? The ending to this article confused me.
grey-area 14y ago
If you found this story amusing, but are a little bit daunted by the loquacity or infamy of his novels, I'd strongly recommend trying Nabokov's Lectures in Literature, which expands on lectures given at Cornell, and give you a wonderful introduction to his world, and introduces the writers he considered canon. I always remember this passage from the end of the book, addressing his students, because of the outrageous metaphor: Now the course comes to a close. The work with this group has been a particularly pleasant association between the fountain of my voice and a garden of ears – some open, others closed, many very receptive, a few merely ornamental, but all of them human and divine. I did like the way the story paid a sneaky homage to Nabokov (as lenazegher mentions below, or soon to be above), in capturing the dry humour and sly wit which pervade his writing. A lovely little epitaph for a charming writer.
Tycho 14y ago
He gave really good lectures on literature. I recommend the one on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - I think you can find it on Google Books.
anton-107 14y ago
Nice story. Pushkin, the author of "The Queen of Spades" actually gave an initial idea of "Dead Souls" to Gogol. Without knowing that (which the author didn't know) it is really very interesting how the first story reminded of another novel. The only thing they have in common is an author of the ideas for their plots. So no surprise Nabokov got really curious at first and then disappointed with the answer.
gruseom 14y ago
Here's another gem - Nabokov and Lionel Trilling on an almost comedically highbrow TV show shortly after Lolita was published: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/a_baboon_of_genius_nabokov_talks_lolita_on_fifties_tv http://dangerousminds.net/comments/a_baboon_of_genius_naboko... Nabokov's manner on 1950s American TV is delightful, even if he is reading from index cards. "I leave the field of ideas to Dr. Schweitzer and, uh, Dr. Zhivago."
gruseom 14y ago
By coincidence, Epstein posted on HN a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5414757 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5414757

98 points by gruseom 14y ago

Wow. Lit with Nabokov is like taking Algorithms with Knuth. I was filled with jealousy reading that article.

Great story. Makes me wonder how Nabokov, a literary critic himself and also pseudonym user ("Vladimir Sirin") to hide from critics[1], would feel about Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. Many content creators regard critics with disdain, until it comes to valuing their own time! And Nabokov is at least partially right[2] about not needing context if the literature is good. You can pick up Lolita, open to any page and begin reading and I guarantee a smile will flash across your face within three pages. ~~~ [1] Nabokov: "Occasionally I used the little silk mask of an additional pen name in order to deceive this or that captious critic—with most gratifying results ("At last a great writer!" cried my favorite Zoilus in 1939)." [2] There are huge bodies of work that, if you have context, you will get a LOT more out of, especially older works. Just as TV shows like Family Guy are a series of culturally-dependent in-jokes, so was a lot of the humor in Shakespeare, Chaucer, etc. And reading Li Bai and Du Fu's poetry is not the same unless you know the details of the An Lushan Rebellion they lived through, which had one of the highest death tolls (5.5%–15.3% of entire world population) of any event in history.

hristov 14y ago

This is a great story! By the way, I do not think the author of the article (Epstein) got away with anything. I am pretty sure Nabokov knew very well that he had not read the book. It is not a coincidence that Nabokov gave him a job reviewing movies afterwards. I think Nabokov read his essay, knew he was describing the movie, but nevertheless liked his writing and thought that Epstein was especially good at describing movies. So Nabokov either thought that he would use Epstein for his own amusement or (more likely) he would try to secretly develop Epstein's talent without telling him that he likes his writing as too much self confidence can be disastrous for a young writer. It seems that Epstein was luckier than he imagined. Although, it also seems that Nabokov gave up on him eventually.

meshko 14y ago
Yeah, there is just no way anybody who answers "they are both Russian" to Nabokov can beat him at this game. Even by accident.

ralphleon 14y ago

I enjoyed thinking about what Nabokov was assigning to his students: "Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, and Robert Louis Stevenson" Looks like I'll be reading Metamorphosis( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis) tonight!

gruseom 14y ago
Nabokov's lectures on all those writers were published as a book, and it's very good.
- apetresc 14y ago
  What is it called?
  - gruseom 14y ago
    I forgot that they were split into two: Lectures on Literature and Lectures on Russian Literature. They're all terribly entertaining.
paganel 14y ago
Please also give it a try and read Gogol's "Dead Souls". I don't know how to explain it, but I think is the book that best explains the 20th century (even though it was written in the 1840s). Yes, Gogol was that good.
- gruseom 14y ago
  Dead Souls, absolutely, but also the stories (The Nose and The Overcoat, at a minimum). Gogol is a one-of-a-kind genius. He is one of the funniest writers who ever lived, poignant, and utterly insane in the purest Russian way. He had an enormous influence, all of it good. I love Gogol!
Steko 14y ago
Good choice, Nabokov placed Kafka's Metamorphosis second only to Ulysses as a 20th century novel (as of 1965): http://lib.ru/NABOKOW/Inter05.txt http://lib.ru/NABOKOW/Inter05.txt My greatest masterpieces of twentieth century prose are, in this order: Joyce's Ulysses, Kafka's Transformation, Biely's Petersburg, and the first half of Proust's fairy tale In Search of Lost Time.

lenazegher 14y ago

Many themes recur in Nabokov's work. One of the most frequent is the use of fallible narrators and layered levels of implicit plot. This article is decidedly Nabokov-esque: the author feigns ignorance of the connection between describing a movie in perfect detail to Nabokov and then being hired to review movies. It's not a million miles away from the sort of gaff Charles Kinbote might make [1]. Incidentally, I think Pale Fire might appeal to much of the HN crowd. It's frequently read as a dense, finely-wrought mechanical puzzle that might appeal to the coder mindset. Like Nabokov, I'm also a big fan of writing under pseudonyms. It's a very freeing experience. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Fire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Fire Edit: if you like puzzles, it might be better not to spoil the fun by reading the wikipedia article (or indeed any review, or the dust jacket of the book). It would be better to buy the book, start with the foreword by C. Kinbote and read through to the end of the index.

acabal 14y ago
Pale Fire is my favorite book of all time. I have a braingasm every time I read it. I first read it as part of a class back in my university days, and it's definitely hard to grasp the incredible intricacy, detail, and even humor in every page without having someone to help guide you in your first reading. A lot of my friends I recommended it too were put off by Kinbote's (seemingly) random meanderings. Having said that though, I highly recommend it to anyone here with even a passing interest in literature. There's a huge corpus of analysis of Pale Fire online, and if you plan to read the novel I highly recommend you simultaneously read one of them. Don't worry too much about spoilers, the beauty of the book is mostly outside of the plot and I think having a guide to help is a benefit to sacrifice for. It's also perfect for e-readers, because you can just use hyperlinks instead of flipping back and forth between footnotes. If anyone wants help with it drop me a line :)
- bdr 14y ago
  E-reader? Psh, just buy two copies. ;) Have you read any of Brian Boyd's work? I think you'd really like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691089574/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0691089574&linkCode=as2&tag=a01f63-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691089574/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...

telemachos 14y ago

This reminded me of a favorite story of mine about Nabokov and Thomas Pynchon: Pynchon was a student of Nabokov's when he was at Cornell. Years later when Pynchon himself became famous, Nabokov told interviewers that he had no memory of Pynchon as a student. But Vera remembered Pynchon's handwriting. She really was the "course assistant" as this article mentions: she must have done the grading too.

gruseom 14y ago
There's also a great story about Pynchon as a student of M.H. Abrams at Cornell: http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/abrams.htm http://www.ottosell.de/pynchon/abrams.htm

whatsup 14y ago

Can anyone explain to me why Nabokov lost interest in Epstein at the end? The ending to this article confused me.

grey-area 14y ago

If you found this story amusing, but are a little bit daunted by the loquacity or infamy of his novels, I'd strongly recommend trying Nabokov's Lectures in Literature, which expands on lectures given at Cornell, and give you a wonderful introduction to his world, and introduces the writers he considered canon. I always remember this passage from the end of the book, addressing his students, because of the outrageous metaphor: Now the course comes to a close. The work with this group has been a particularly pleasant association between the fountain of my voice and a garden of ears – some open, others closed, many very receptive, a few merely ornamental, but all of them human and divine. I did like the way the story paid a sneaky homage to Nabokov (as lenazegher mentions below, or soon to be above), in capturing the dry humour and sly wit which pervade his writing. A lovely little epitaph for a charming writer.

Tycho 14y ago

He gave really good lectures on literature. I recommend the one on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - I think you can find it on Google Books.

anton-107 14y ago

Nice story. Pushkin, the author of "The Queen of Spades" actually gave an initial idea of "Dead Souls" to Gogol. Without knowing that (which the author didn't know) it is really very interesting how the first story reminded of another novel. The only thing they have in common is an author of the ideas for their plots. So no surprise Nabokov got really curious at first and then disappointed with the answer.

gruseom 14y ago

Here's another gem - Nabokov and Lionel Trilling on an almost comedically highbrow TV show shortly after Lolita was published: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/a_baboon_of_genius_nabokov_talks_lolita_on_fifties_tv http://dangerousminds.net/comments/a_baboon_of_genius_naboko... Nabokov's manner on 1950s American TV is delightful, even if he is reading from index cards. "I leave the field of ideas to Dr. Schweitzer and, uh, Dr. Zhivago."

gruseom 14y ago

By coincidence, Epstein posted on HN a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5414757 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5414757