Re: Nabokov, _Pale Fire_ (with clueless introduction by Richard Rorty)
Steve Hayes
>I finally got around to reading _Pale Fire_. I've never liked
>crossword puzzles and other word games, so I can't get into solving
>the puzzles Nabokov puts in his novels, and I'm sure a miss a lot
>because of that. Not as much as Richard Rorty, though. He wrote a
>condescending and amazingly wrong-headed intro to _Pale Fire_.
I haven't read it, though I've read other books by Nabokov. I hope it was
better than Dan Brown in "The da Vinci code".
--
Steve Hayes
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/litmain.htm
http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw
http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius
John W Kennedy
> I haven't read it, though I've read other books by Nabokov. I hope it was
> better than Dan Brown in "The da Vinci code".
"Plan 9 from Outer Space" is better than "The DaVinci Code".
"Mattie J. Peterson: The Collected Poems" is better than "The DaVinci Code".
"The Complete Politicable Speeches of George W. Bush" is better than
"The DaVinci Code".
--
John W. Kennedy
"The grand art mastered the thudding hammer of Thor
And the heart of our lord Taliessin determined the war."
-- Charles Williams. "Mount Badon"
John W Kennedy
insist that it's a vase, or that it's two faces, you're wrong.
Just Me
> "Pale Fire" is notoriously a figure/ground puzzle in words. Whether you
> insist that it's a vase, or that it's two faces, you're wrong.
For the same reason I have difficulty getting into Ada, I had a hard
time with Pale Fire. However, three of his novels translated from the
Russian held my interest throughout, "King, Queen, Knave", "Look at
the Harlequins!", "Laughter in the Dark", none of which serve to force
the reader into a position as Nabokov's opponent in a chess game. I
did read to completion his "Pnin" but after it was done, wasn't too
sure why I should have bothered. I'm still reading 'Invitation to a
Beheading" but haven't picked it up in over two years. The more mature
the author became, like James Joyce, the more he liked to sort of
sadistically fuck with the reader's head more or less as the writer's
tool or fool. And that's cool if you're masochistic enough to dig it,
otherwise you get a headache.
The only Nabokov work involving chess that I did greatly enjoy, I did
not read but saw as a truly excellent film starring John Turturro,
"The Luzhin Defence" taken from the novel translated as "The Defense."
As for Lolita, it is of course in a class all it's own, and I never
stop reading it, for it is in so many respects a writer's bible, and a
course in prose composition all to itself.
--
JM
http://jpdavid.blogspot.com/
http://bobbisoxsnatchers.blogspot.com
http://vignettes-mackie.blogspot.com
Stratum101
> On 13 Sep 2009 17:31:43 +0300, The Other <ot...@address.invalid> wrote:
>
> >I finally got around to reading _Pale Fire_. I've never liked
> >crossword puzzles and other word games, so I can't get into solving
> >the puzzles Nabokov puts in his novels, and I'm sure a miss a lot
> >because of that. Not as much as Richard Rorty, though. He wrote a
> >condescending and amazingly wrong-headed intro to _Pale Fire_.
>
> I haven't read it, though I've read other books by Nabokov. I hope it was
> better than Dan Brown in "The da Vinci code".
I love crosswords. I solve the Friday and Saturday NY Times
crosswords in under 30 minutes. But, I have thought they
are being dumbed down.
These follow U.S. style cluing. British style is a much tougher
nut. In _Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8)_, Sandy Balfour
confesses he had never finished an Observer crossword.
Or maybe he had, but it was only just prior to his writing
his book. (I've forgotten.)
The title is a clue, of course, and the cryptic-clue
addict will spot the answer immediately. (Or
I should say after not too much effort for
this foreigner!) Hell, he's provided the answer.
A pretty girl is a belle and "in crimson" could
mean that some part of "belle" is surrounded
by "red", and re-belle-d is a synonym for "rose"
and has eight letters. Duh, eureka.
The thing about that style is that the
answers are nearly unambiguous. Difficult
U.S. style crosswords are built around
ambiguity. Proponents of either can
make a strong case.
Patok
>
> In _Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8)_, Sandy Balfour
> confesses he had never finished an Observer crossword.
> The title is a clue, of course, and the cryptic-clue
> addict will spot the answer immediately. (Or
> I should say after not too much effort for
> this foreigner!) Hell, he's provided the answer.
> A pretty girl is a belle and "in crimson" could
> mean that some part of "belle" is surrounded
> by "red", and re-belle-d is a synonym for "rose"
> and has eight letters. Duh, eureka.
I'm a furriner, and I totally don't get it. How is 'rebelled' a
synonym for 'rose'?
I confess that the cryptic clue type crosswords are a totally alien
form to me - not because of language - I would reject them in my native
language as well. My feeling is, that nobody should be forced to think
in such an arbitrarily logical way. (Yes, I think that there's logical
logic, and then there's arbitrary logic - where logic is used
retroactively, to explain the reached conclusion, but can't be used
proactively, to help you reach it).
P.S. - Now I got it, just the moment before clicking 'send'. Rose - past
tense of rise. See - it only feeds my indignation. Peeps are not
supposed to be forced to think in such perverse ways. I hardly got it
backwards, I totally wouldn't have a chance forwards. And I'm /smart/. :)
--
You'd be crazy to e-mail me with the crazy. But leave the div alone.
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>Steve Hayes wrote:
>> I haven't read it, though I've read other books by Nabokov. I hope it was
>> better than Dan Brown in "The da Vinci code".
>
>"Plan 9 from Outer Space" is better than "The DaVinci Code".
>
>"Mattie J. Peterson: The Collected Poems" is better than "The DaVinci Code".
>
>"The Complete Politicable Speeches of George W. Bush" is better than
>"The DaVinci Code".
Are those also filled with idiotic puzzles?
Steve Hayes
>Stratum101 wrote:
>>
>> In _Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8)_, Sandy Balfour
>> confesses he had never finished an Observer crossword.
>
>> The title is a clue, of course, and the cryptic-clue
>> addict will spot the answer immediately. (Or
>> I should say after not too much effort for
>> this foreigner!) Hell, he's provided the answer.
>> A pretty girl is a belle and "in crimson" could
>> mean that some part of "belle" is surrounded
>> by "red", and re-belle-d is a synonym for "rose"
>> and has eight letters. Duh, eureka.
>
> I'm a furriner, and I totally don't get it. How is 'rebelled' a
>synonym for 'rose'?
The disaffected masses rose in rebellion.
>P.S. - Now I got it, just the moment before clicking 'send'. Rose - past
>tense of rise. See - it only feeds my indignation. Peeps are not
>supposed to be forced to think in such perverse ways. I hardly got it
>backwards, I totally wouldn't have a chance forwards. And I'm /smart/. :)
There you go.
John W Kennedy
> John W Kennedy <jwk...@attglobal.net> writes:
>
>> "Pale Fire" is notoriously a figure/ground puzzle in words. Whether
>> you insist that it's a vase, or that it's two faces, you're wrong.
>
> figure-ground puzzles, but in PF, what's the vase and what's the two
> faces?
"That is the question", said jesting Hamlet, and would not stay for an
answer.
> Again, PF was undeniably a moralistic novel (Rorty did get that part
> right in his intro), and I was interested in that moralistic aspect
> partly because it is - or seems - accessible without following all
> those word games, references to obscure 17th-century English poets,
> etc. I found PF's morality pretty unambiguous, but that could have
> been my own careless reading.
Stealing horses is an evil.
--
John W. Kennedy
"Though a Rothschild you may be
In your own capacity,
As a Company you've come to utter sorrow--
But the Liquidators say,
'Never mind--you needn't pay,'
So you start another company to-morrow!"
-- Sir William S. Gilbert. "Utopia Limited"