books every intelligent person should read

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

 > With Ada he completely got lost in a puzzle wrapped in beautiful but 
senseless writing, and most don't even see the puzzle, taking the 
writing at face value.<

Funny. These days I'm finishing my first read (new German translation 
from 2010) of Ada, and the post just brought the English original which 
I'll enjoy immediately afterwards. Agreed that Pale Fire is often mere 
crossword riddle, I cannot say this for Ada at all: Actually it's one of 
the most erotic and playful books I know. And while Lolita, the 
character, suffers from an asymmetry towards the male protagonist 
Humbert Humbert (which is unavoidable because of the age gap), the 
character of Ada is an actual equal to Van. There's entomology, SciFi 
elements, art history and countless jokes about literature. A gloomy 
sense of nowadays arises from the Crimean War (1853 - 1856) which is 
highly present in this novel. (Not to get - as you, David, experienced 
it -  "completely lost in a puzzle", it helps to check out competent 
notes: Dieter E. Zimmer offers about 250 pages with detailed 
annotations, samples from interviews with Nabokov, a time line, a 
glossary of places plus reproductions of relevant paintings and photos 
in color; this helps to enter the center of the maze.) According to my 
impression, there is no contradiction of the puzzle and the beautiful 
writing in Ada. And beautiful it is! That's why I need to reread it in 
original without hesitation. There are sentences in Ada far more poetic 
than whole library shelves of poetry. I also sense the light hearted 
spirit of the 1960s in it. One more thing: That Ada, she's definitely hot!


On 10.04.2014 02:07, David Morris wrote:
> I prefer Lolita. With Pale Fire N let the puzzle making take the lead 
> to the detriment of passion and real wit.  Puzzles and wit are not the 
> same, nor are they equals. With Ada he completely got lost in a puzzle 
> wrapped in beautiful but senseless writing, and most don't even see 
> the puzzle, taking the writing at face value.
>
> I know many disagree with me on this.
>
> David Morros
>
> On Wednesday, April 9, 2014, <malignd at aol.com 
> <mailto:malignd at aol.com>> wrote:
>
>     Why was this good fortune?  Both books are wonderful.
>
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com
>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','eburns at gmail.com');>>
>     To: Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com
>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com');>>; Charles
>     Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com
>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','cfalbert at gmail.com');>>
>     Cc: Michael Bailey <mikebailey at gmx.us
>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','mikebailey at gmx.us');>>; P-list
>     <pynchon-l at waste.org
>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','pynchon-l at waste.org');>>
>     Sent: Wed, Apr 9, 2014 3:16 am
>     Subject: Re: books every intelligent person should read
>
>     I second that emotion. I had the good fortune to read Pale Fire _before_
>     Lolita._
>
>        Original Message
>     From: Mark Thibodeau
>     Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 7:30 AM
>     To: Charles Albert
>     Cc: Erik T. Burns; Michael Bailey; P-list
>     Subject: Re: Re: books every intelligent person should read
>
>     I've read Pale Fire, and I loved it.
>
>     YOPJerky
>
>     On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 8:34 PM, Charles Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com  <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','cfalbert at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>     > Hasn't anyone here read Pale Fire?
>     >
>     > love,
>     > cfa
>     >
>     >
>     > On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 6:29 PM, Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com  <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','eburns at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >> mine would include _J R_ and _The Dog of the South_
>     >>
>     >> On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 2:16 AM, Michael Bailey <mikebailey at gmx.us  <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','mikebailey at gmx.us');>> wrote:
>     >> > Per Jacob
>     >> >
>     >> > ---Infinite Jest needs to be on here. That book made me love writing.---
>     >> >
>     >> >
>     >> > - OK but what are your other nine (-:
>     >> >
>     >> > (Mine is already at 10 & although I liked ij, I'm disinclined to bump
>     >> > any to
>     >> > make room --- maybe put IJ as Alice's #9 but need to go ask alice....but
>     >> > ms
>     >> > malice I think was looking for a bouquet of top tens which is always
>     >> > fun,
>     >> > why not add one?)
>     >> >
>     >> > - Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>     >> -
>     >> Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>     >
>     >
>     -
>     Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l