authors under the influence

[Paul Mackin]

On Oct 23, 2006, at 11:36 AM, Steven wrote:

> 	Of course, Nabokov was of a diff. opinion re Proust's work.

I agree with Nabokov.   I meant only to say that Proust was  
convincing in dealing with homosexual culture,  in which the narrator  
is never presented as a direct participant, but only as an observer,   
upon several occasions as a hidden one. It is the novel's treatment  
of opposite-sex relations that is utterly bizarre. The narrator  
"fools around" with Albertine for what seems like dozens of pages at  
a time,  but the most satisfying moments for him are apparently while  
she is asleep.  Awake girls tend to take his mind off things. She  
does seem to be rather important to him in the kissing department.  
But at one point,  after he jealously makes reference of her "other  
lovers, " she is obliged to correct him in saying, "but WE are not  
really lovers, are we?"

> While conceding it's superficial artistry, he thought it was  
> fatally flawed from not honestly addressing the homosexual nature  
> of the primary love story.

So very true.  It is in the treatment of sexual jealousy that the  
narrator's lack of a truly male perspective  is most telling.. His  
rivals vis-a-vis Albertine are almost invariably other women. Nabokov  
has a funny remark to make about this. A little sexist but to my way  
of thinking largely true.
>
> 	I haven't read beyond Swann in Love.  Been meaning to and will  
> when AtD is put behind me.  Many of you seem to think the new  
> translation is the best so far?
>
>
> On Oct 22, 2006, at 10:36 AM, Paul Mackin wrote:
> Trouble was, how could a man write  so authoritatively and  
> convincingly about these things unless he himself were part of  
> them,  which of course he was.

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