re re re re Re: "The Evacuation still proceeds..." GR Part 1 Section 1

[Keith McMullen]

That's not really the question being debated is it? There is 
disagreement regarding the words on the page. Until any 'reading' of 
those words can be deemed valid or invalid, a clear understanding of 
what words are there and what words aren't must be acknowledged. I have 
no problem with anyone's 'reading' except when they say certain words 
and sentences are in the text when they are not. Fr. Fiero posted a 
search which listed the actual words. What if we were to focus our 
discussion on those words and sentences? I'm open to any number of 
'readings' of what those words mean in the context of the novel. But 
don't tell me the text has references that Fiero's search demonstrates 
are not there. It's one thing to have differing readings. It's another 
to leave muddy Nabokian footprints all over what is written. I don't 
know shit about literary criticism, but I figure one point of common 
ground is that any 'reading' must at least start with actually reading.

Let the Evacuation continue.....

On Oct 27, 2005, at 6:32 PM, Tim Strzechowski wrote:

I agree, Peter.  There's nothing that says the Holocaust *has* to be 
central to a reading or understanding of GR.  Conversely, there's 
nothing that says the Holocaust *can't* be central to one's reading of 
the novel, if in fact the novel carries with it resonances of that 
aspect of the historical period.  Hopefully, I have made my position on 
the matter clear: if a reader can justify a "Holocaust reading" that is 
meaningful to him/herself (and a Holocaust reading is certainly 
supportable), that's a valid reading; if a reader can gain a meaningful 
reading of the book without focusing on the Holocaust (and a reader 
need not say that a text must have X number of references to the 
Holocaust to justify that reading), that too is a valid reading.  But 
the text, being complex and brilliantly crafted, supports *both* 
readings and neither is exclusive to understanding or appreciating the 
work.