Pynchon and Nabokov at Cornell

[Otto]

Think I've told this before.

Michael Naumann has been asked in that famous radio-discussion about the
Cornell-connection; that Nabokov could not remember if Pynchon has been one
of his students or not. According to Naumann he had asked Pynchon the same
thing and Pynchon's humorous answer had been that he couldn't remember
having attended Nabokov's courses.

Otto

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2003 3:05 AM
Subject: Re: Pynchon and Nabokov at Cornell


> Thanks to David and Malignd for taking the time to post these two cites.
The
> Pynchon/Nabokov connections seem pretty rock solid to me, and it was
> disturbing to see it insinuated that Vera Nabokov might have lied.
>
> I guess the other pertinent quote is Pynchon's comment in the _SL_ Intro:
>
>     I think, looking back, that there might have been a general
>     nervousness in the whole college-age subculture. A tendency
>     to self-censorship. It was also the era of _Howl_, _Lolita_,
>     _Tropic of Cancer_, and all the excesses of law enforcement
>     that such works provoked. (p. 6)
>
> The reference comes in the context of an assessment of the preciousness of
> his own writing when depicting the sexual encounter in 'The Small Rain',
his
> "first published story" and one which appeared in the _Cornell Writer_ of
> March 1959. I think it is implied in the passage above that Pynchon read
the
> three mentioned works while part of a "college-age subculture", i.e.,
while
> he was at Cornell. If not, it certainly states that he was alert to the
> controversies surrounding and the bans applied to the three texts he
> mentions. (It also reiterates his ongoing disdain for "excesses of law
> enforcement".) That Nabokov was actually lecturing at Cornell at this time
> makes it seem incredibly unlikely that Pynchon wouldn't have sat in on
some
> of the then-notorious author's lectures if he was able to, even if he
wasn't
> actually enrolled in his courses (but I've seen nothing definitive to say
> that he didn't and, again, I'm pretty certain Pynchon would have taken the
> opportunity to study under Nabokov if it was at all possible for him to do
> so). Finally, there seems no reason to doubt Jules Siegel's anecdote in
his
> 1977 'Playboy' piece, where he recalls Pynchon telling him that Nabokov's
> "Russian accent was so thick he could hardly understand what he was
saying":
>
> http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9505&msg=1496
>
> http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9505&msg=1497
>
> I'd say that it's pretty obvious that, despite the accent, Pynchon
> persevered and did in fact "understand" quite a lot of what Professor
> Nabokov said.
>
> best
>
> on 13/7/03 4:00 AM, MalignD at aol.com wrote:
> >
> > reported in a more authoritative source:   Alfred Appel's interviews
with the
> > Nabokovs in September 1966 at Montreux.   The pertinent question and
answer in
> > full:
> >
> > Appel:
> >
> > What is your opinion of Joyce's parodies?   Do you see any difference in
the
> > artistic effect of scenes such as the maternity hospital and the beach
> > interlude with Gerty Macdowell?   Are you familiar with the work of
younger
> > American writers who have been influenced by both you and Joyce, such as
> > Thomas Pynchon (A Cornellian, Class of '59, who surely was in Literature
312),
> > and do you have any opinion on the current ascendancy of the so-called
> > parody-novel (John Barth, for instance)?
> >
> > VN:
> >
> > The literary parodies in the Maternal Hospital chapter are on the whole
> > jejunish.   Joyce seems to have been hampered by the general sterilized
tone
> > he chose for that chapter, and this somehow dulled and monotonized the
inlaid
> > skits.   On the other hand, the frilly novelette parodies in the
Masturbation
> > scene are highly successful; and the sudden junction of its cliches with
the
> > fireworks and tender sky of real poetry is a feat of genius.   I am not
> > familiar with the works of the two other writers you mention.*
> >
> > To which Appel adds the following footnote:
> >
> > Mrs. Nabokov, who graded her husband's examination papers, did remember
> > Pynchon, but only for his "unusual" handwriting:   half printing, half
script.
> >
> > It is, of course, possible that Vera was mistaken; it was many years
later and
> > there were many student papers.   But what she said was that she
remembered
> > Pynchon, not "someone, perhaps Pynchon."
>
> on 12/7/03 5:59 AM, David Morris wrote:
>
> > He [TRP] graduated from Oyster Bay High School in 1953 at the age of
> > sixteen, salutatorian of his class and winner of the Julia L. Thurston
award
> > for "the senior attaining the highest average in the study of English."
A
> > scholarship to Cornell University and enrollment in the division of
> > Engineering
> > Physics followed. At the end of his sophomore year [1955 - the year
Lolita was
> > pulblished when Pynchon was then 18 years old] he left Cornell for
service in
> > the Navy.
> > He returned to Cornell in the fall of 1957 transferring to the College
of
> > Arts an Sciences [where at that time Nabokov was a "celebrity" professor
> > because of Lolita's success] from which he would attain his degree in
English.
> > During this time, he was on the editorial staff of the The Cornell
Writer ,
> > and
> > also published his first short story: "The Small Rain" (The Cornell
Writer,
> > March 1959). He received his B.A. in June of 1959 with "distinction in
all
> > subjects."
> >
> > http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/bio/facts.html