Pale Fire

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terrance" <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
Cc: "Pynchlist" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Pale Fire
>
>
> davemarc wrote:
> >
> > And just out of curiosity:  Does anyone on this list have a problem with
a
> > Nabokov discussion at this point?
>
>
> Sure. This is the Pynchon List. We should discuss Pynchon.
>
> So we're reading Vineland and we notice that on page one the text
> alludes to Orwell's _Nineteen Eighty-four_.  P recently published a
> Foreword to _1984_ and he alludes to the post 9-11 fascist policies of
> the Bush administration.
>
> "No he doesn't!"
> " Yes he does!"
>

Well, I think there have been opinions inbetween this binary opposition.

> [ tossing of spam]
>
> Meanwhile, the gang of NAB is reading Pale Fire.
> What's this? Another spoiler?
> Hey, whose idea was it to read Nabokov on the Pynchon List anyway?
>

As far as I remember it's been Keith's idea and I think it's a good idea for
a mailing list to discuss a novel by an important author like Nabokov who
has influenced Thomas Pynchon instead of merely discussing possible
political connections of Pynchon's texts. I really wonder why those who had
read "PF" before (some even twice) never have mentioned it's importance for
Pynchon's literature; GR wouldn't be the same novel as we know it without
Thomas having read "PF" as a key text for the development of American
postmodernism and the genre in general.

(...) Because Pynchon uses techniques outlined in Nabokov's courses (...)
According to Andrew Field's VN: The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov (1986):
"The core of the serious Nabokov cult on the campus consisted of . . .
Richard Fariña . . . and Thomas Pynchon, though evidently there was no
personal acquaintance between Pynchon and Nabokov."
http://www.vheissu.org/art/art_eng_SL_hollander.htm

Frank Kermode called "Pale Fire" "one of the most complex novels ever
written." True, but John Barth's comment seems closer to the experience of
the novel: ""Pale Fire" is a joy."
(Brian Boyd: "Nabokov's Pale Fire. The Magic of Artictic Discovery,"
Princeton, New Jersey, 1999, p. 5)

The Vineland-reading very likely will lead to massive flaming. Keep this
list a location to discuss literature, intertextuality, structures and
devices in the first place.

Otto