Pairings in Nabokov and Pynchon

[Tim Strzechowski]

From: <Bandwraith at aol.com>

> Thanks for the references, Waxwing : )

No problem.  Speaking of which, picked up the newest Zeppelin disc
yesterday.  Each of the 3 discs has the usual Icarus image of Swan Song
records.  Talk about nostalgia, man ...

> They both go to the
> heart of what concerns me: a comparison of creative freedom
> in Pynchon and Nabokov. Not just for the authors, but for their
> readers, as well. Do the texts, and their discernible designs,
> encourage freedom or attempt to seduce one into giving it up?

In many ways, doesn't all text seduce one into reliquishing personal
freedom.  Even a text as "open" or "loose" as, say, Finnegans Wake (in which
the reader can start or finish at any given point, read at any of numerous
levels, comprehend or not comprehend any/all/none of it, etc.) must succeed
in the reader abandoning all preconceptions of how text must be handled or
examined.

> Do they inspire one to share subjective responses to the given
> text, or, is the net effect to suppress the subjective in favor of
> a more objective appreciation?

Interestingly, the above abandonment of preconceptions and resulting "giving
over" to the text allows for more subjective responses, no?

> Deciding which text ultimately
> results in more freedom can de deceptive. Fascism seems to
> feed on emotion and romanticism. The Vineland hipsters were
> the "natural prey" of the more fascistic characters. It can become
> a tangled ecology. Remember those owls in M&D. Is it the bird
> or its song that ultimately gets passed down the generations.

Great points!

>
> Your "felt need" to suppress what might be construed as less than
> respectful play with Mr. Nabokov's name is interesting in that
> regard, even though you were being a little facetious. Malign's
> blunt dismissal of your effort to share critical commentary he
> deemed less than adequate for publication, is also suggestive.

Yup.

>
> Neither is conclusive, however. It may well turn out that Pynchon's
> "loose and baggy" style is even more constraining of creative
> freedom, in its own way, than the more "tightly wrapped" text of
> Pale Fire.

This might be a good starting point for the official "start" of the formal
discussions on 7/14.
>
> There is always the "shipwrecked on a desert isle" test- just
> one volume to keep company with for about five years- a
> simplified ecology with which to study the effects. Creative
> brilliance might become a stifling labyrinth under such
> circumstances. Watch that summer sun, bro..

My desert island books tend toward the ones that require lots and lots of
readings -- GR, U, FW, Bible, Shakespeare, and, of course, Weber's Ship
Building Made Easy.  : )

Tim