tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post4829194700143034211..comments2023-10-28T12:01:47.929+00:00Comments on Edward Lucas: Nabokov reviewEdward Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11369936559712607693noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-16606528605153258562008-02-21T06:22:00.000+00:002008-02-21T06:22:00.000+00:00E.L.; Enlivening article concerning one of t...E.L.;<BR/><BR/><BR/> Enlivening article concerning one of the few pens in human history worthy of the designation "excellent"(Nabokov)and what would seem to be, alongside Stacy Schiff's book, one of the few worthwhile explorations of the maestro extrodainaire. NK's succinct observations on learning Westernisation via VN are deceptively powerful, so much so that they plow a blitzkrieg across cultural lines. As American male of Pakistani-Colombian ancestry in whose childhood the absence of any meaningful model of the individual was glaring, it was in Nabokov more than anywhere else that I found the guidelines to be keen-on-DaWorld citizen without having to either "whiten-up" or trade my Bachrach in for a turban,beard, and sandals Mon-Wed then a hand-me-down 49ers jersey and Goodwill rejected jeans Wed-Sat.<BR/><BR/>It is without the faintest hint sentimentality that I exclaim the man probably rescued my sanity.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03961669308302307959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-51819342386603564292008-02-15T10:18:00.000+00:002008-02-15T10:18:00.000+00:00Hi KonradAll I was doing was showing that though t...Hi Konrad<BR/><BR/>All I was doing was showing that though the book is studded with what may be to many readers unfamiliar names (if you look at a random page), it is actually not intimidating because NK explains everything very clearly<BR/><BR/>EEdward Lucashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11369936559712607693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24528000.post-85498797152441131312008-02-14T21:28:00.000+00:002008-02-14T21:28:00.000+00:00Dear Edward,Either you are ignorant of Nabokov's l...Dear Edward,<BR/><BR/>Either you are ignorant of Nabokov's literature, or you wrote something in a very bad manner. Both Koncheyev and Godunov-Cherdyntsev are characters in Nabokov's "The Gift" (Дар), and thus no reader should feel "intimidated" by not knowing them if the reader didn't know that novel. Have you ever read "The Gift," or are you writing (as journalists often do) about something you don't know trying to pretend you do know something?Konrad von Swalwagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10555220408386604184noreply@blogger.com