Nabokov, Amis, Atta

[Steven]

	Lolita, Pale Fire and Pnin -- an American triptych.  His artistry is  
so finely wrought that the appearance of being cold and remote  
sometimes comes through.  I think this was Updike's critique.  But if  
you read enough of him the emotional side becomes more evident.   
Frankly, the last lines of Lolita bring a tear to my eye -- Humbert  
threatening any future swains of his love, etc.  And Lik, a novella,  
is poignant as well.  Lots of poignancy if you look.  Pnin is bathed  
in the stuff.

	Oh yeah:  Look at the Harlequins was a waste of time too imo...and  
as that was his last hurrah, the charge of bloodlessness get a last- 
minute transfusion.

	Steve--as for the charge of being a right-winger...the category  
doesn't really encompass the man's experience of having his family  
and entire life broken apart by the Bolsheviks.


On Sep 2, 2006, at 1:18 PM, Carvill John wrote:

>
> Lolita is genius of course, Pale Fire too, and I love Pnin. But  
> Nabokov himself (get ready to ignite your flames) has always seemed  
> a cold, remote, rather bloodless figure to me. And probably a  
> little bit right-wing to boot, not that that would be seen as a  
> negative by everyone around here.

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