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News & ArtsTuesday, November 17, 2009
Books A Strange Picture of Vladimir Nabokov
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Now that everyone is talking about the greatest novelist in the history of this language of ours, Nabokov, about his incomplete novel The Original of Laura, I want to offer not a few words (the title of the incomplete novel tells me everything I need to know about it—Nabokov's last important work is Ada) but an image, a curious image:
Two things I want to say before ending this post. One, this passage shows us something that's worth a moment or two of thought:
I can tell you that Nabokov's son Dmitri did not publish this [incomplete novel] against Vladimir's wishes because he wanted money for a sportscar. Dmitri is 76, and in a wheelchair. This was a question, among other things, of legacy and of keeping the decision in the family.Dmitri is about to reach the age that his father died, 78.
Two: It is not a surprise that Nabokov is the greatest novelist in English. The Russian tradition of that form is much richer than the English one, which not only has failed to produce a school of exceptional novelists but also philosophers. We have only brilliant flashes here and there but nothing like a proper constellation of luminous novelists and philosophers. The English is only something special when it comes to economics. Ours is the language of doing (and writing about) business.
1
Charles, are you suffering from a bit of post-colonial dementia today?
Blanket statements that English "has failed to produce a school of exceptional novelists but also philosophers" don't serve anyone's interest, and only serve to show your ignorance, not your intelligence.
Blanket statements that English "has failed to produce a school of exceptional novelists but also philosophers" don't serve anyone's interest, and only serve to show your ignorance, not your intelligence.
2
Funny how all those books you love so much were written in English, then. If it was such a shitty language, you'd think nobody could write anything worthwhile in it.
3
Good Morning Charles,
I share your enthusiaism for Nabokov. He really is a great novelist. But, to conclude that he is "the greatest novelist in the English language" is somewhat hyperbolic. I contend that V. S. Naipaul, Joseph Conrad and E. M. Forster are easily Nabokov's peers. And while Samuel Johnson and William Shakespeare weren't novelists, they deserve equal mention as master writers in the English language.
I share your enthusiaism for Nabokov. He really is a great novelist. But, to conclude that he is "the greatest novelist in the English language" is somewhat hyperbolic. I contend that V. S. Naipaul, Joseph Conrad and E. M. Forster are easily Nabokov's peers. And while Samuel Johnson and William Shakespeare weren't novelists, they deserve equal mention as master writers in the English language.
4
May I submit the American Naturalists as an "exceptional school" of American novelists? Frank Norris? Anyone?
5
Mr. Mudede,
I agree about the Russians having a better tradition of the novel than us Anglophones. I agree, also, that Nabakov rocks my socks off (Soksov?) English, however, is a language for poetry, not economics. That's why Shakespeare is so popular in Russia (and most other places). That's why Nabokov's English prose is so poetic.
I agree about the Russians having a better tradition of the novel than us Anglophones. I agree, also, that Nabakov rocks my socks off (Soksov?) English, however, is a language for poetry, not economics. That's why Shakespeare is so popular in Russia (and most other places). That's why Nabokov's English prose is so poetic.
7
Oh Charles, you're saying provocative things just for the fun of it again. I know it's easier than actually getting at the complex truth, and seems more fun, but it gets old.
I do think there is something about the transition from writing in Russian to writing in English that made Nabokov uniquely talented. I don't speak Russian myself, so to put it into words is hard, but the passion and flavor of Russian developed Nabokov's linguistic sensitivity, and the vocabulary and range of English gave him the perfect opportunity to apply it.
As for the comparative worth of various novelists, I still haven't read enough to have an opinion on that. I'm only 25; I'll get back to you in 10 or 15 years.
I do think there is something about the transition from writing in Russian to writing in English that made Nabokov uniquely talented. I don't speak Russian myself, so to put it into words is hard, but the passion and flavor of Russian developed Nabokov's linguistic sensitivity, and the vocabulary and range of English gave him the perfect opportunity to apply it.
As for the comparative worth of various novelists, I still haven't read enough to have an opinion on that. I'm only 25; I'll get back to you in 10 or 15 years.
9
RAPPER PITBULL SEZ: EAZYR TO RHYME/PLAY WIT LANG IN ENGLISH. NO ONE SURPRISED. BASTARD TONGUE STILL THE BEST. BASTARD JEWS STILL THE BEST. CHOSEN PEEPS? NOT EVEN. KARLES IS INTELLECTUAL SHREW, KARLES CANNOT UNDERSTAND IMPORT OF IMPORT (GOING THRU PORTS, U'D THINK TIME IN CONFINED SPACE WIF HIPPIEZ AND SHROOMS WULD HELP KARLES). KING 4 A DAY KARLES?
SAD B4 SAD B4 SAD B4 SAD B4.
SAY ANYTING!
SAD B4 SAD B4 SAD B4 SAD B4.
SAY ANYTING!
10
I believe that Charles is right about Nabokov's standing as the greatest novelist in English and about the absolute superiority of Russians in the medium. That isn't some post-colonial headache. Critics such as Martin Amis have said pretty much the same.
Where Charles follows his jejeune Marxism completely completely beyond where the evidence will take him is in his suggestion that "Ours is the language of doing (and writing about) business," and that the English have failed to "produce a school of exceptional novelists and philosophers." The former statement is pure laughing gas. Stipulating the truth of the latter statement (discounting Hume, Berkley, Bertrand Russell, etc.), what to make of the unparallelled excellents of the British poetic tradition?
Where Charles follows his jejeune Marxism completely completely beyond where the evidence will take him is in his suggestion that "Ours is the language of doing (and writing about) business," and that the English have failed to "produce a school of exceptional novelists and philosophers." The former statement is pure laughing gas. Stipulating the truth of the latter statement (discounting Hume, Berkley, Bertrand Russell, etc.), what to make of the unparallelled excellents of the British poetic tradition?
11
Nabokov is more than the greatest novelist in the English language; he's the greatest American novelist. Which is more interesting.
@3, Conrad? Forster? Really? I could almost buy @6's Burgess (mm, not really), but E. M. Forster? The obvious answer is James Joyce, though his compatriot and fellow exile Sam Beckett gets in there for "Watt" and "Murphy". The other English giants of the 20th century are Amis (K., not M.) and Waugh. But the greatest of all is Laurence Sterne.
@3, Conrad? Forster? Really? I could almost buy @6's Burgess (mm, not really), but E. M. Forster? The obvious answer is James Joyce, though his compatriot and fellow exile Sam Beckett gets in there for "Watt" and "Murphy". The other English giants of the 20th century are Amis (K., not M.) and Waugh. But the greatest of all is Laurence Sterne.
12
NABOKOV BORING.
20TH CENTURY OVER.
TASTE SUBJECTIVE.
GREAT AMERICAN PHILOZOPHER HAKIM BEY OBVIOUSLY BETTER THAN DED RUSSKIES.
CAT WILL NOW REREAD "BEEN DOWN SO LONG IT LOOKS LIKE UP TO ME".
BUT CAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BIT OF A BUG ABOUT NOIZE...
20TH CENTURY OVER.
TASTE SUBJECTIVE.
GREAT AMERICAN PHILOZOPHER HAKIM BEY OBVIOUSLY BETTER THAN DED RUSSKIES.
CAT WILL NOW REREAD "BEEN DOWN SO LONG IT LOOKS LIKE UP TO ME".
BUT CAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BIT OF A BUG ABOUT NOIZE...
13
Something is missing from this discussion of whether the English language has a great tradition of novels: namely, what about Austen, the Brontes, Dickens (especially), Hardy, Eliot, Thackeray, Henry James, Conrad? I thought these were the great classics of the English novel. Russia has had two or three very great novelists, but nothing like the profusion in England in the 19th century.
Maybe Nabokov is the greatest American novelist. At least, nothing could be greater, or more American, than Lolita.
Maybe Nabokov is the greatest American novelist. At least, nothing could be greater, or more American, than Lolita.
14
@11 Fnarf
"There's no accounting for taste". "Lord Jim" and "Heart of Darkness" are masterpieces by Conrad by any standard of literary criticism. "A Passage to India" is magnificent and probably Forster's greatest work. I read it while in India. It's very accurate as well. I read "A Bend in the River" by V. S. Naipaul when residing in Africa (Zaire). That book alone by him blew me away. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize for literature. I did neglect Waugh. He is extraordinary. I read "A Tourist in Africa" and "Brideshead Revisited". Both outstanding. I'm merely saying Nabokov has great company in the area of English novelists or novelists writing in the English language. If the latter is the case, throw in Americans Booth Tarkington ("Alice Adams" & "The Magnificent Ambersons" are incredible), Herman Melville, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway in addition to South African, Alan Paton who wrote "Cry, the Beloved Country". All these authors are read far more than Sterne who might be good but is hardly read outside of English Literature classes.
"There's no accounting for taste". "Lord Jim" and "Heart of Darkness" are masterpieces by Conrad by any standard of literary criticism. "A Passage to India" is magnificent and probably Forster's greatest work. I read it while in India. It's very accurate as well. I read "A Bend in the River" by V. S. Naipaul when residing in Africa (Zaire). That book alone by him blew me away. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize for literature. I did neglect Waugh. He is extraordinary. I read "A Tourist in Africa" and "Brideshead Revisited". Both outstanding. I'm merely saying Nabokov has great company in the area of English novelists or novelists writing in the English language. If the latter is the case, throw in Americans Booth Tarkington ("Alice Adams" & "The Magnificent Ambersons" are incredible), Herman Melville, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway in addition to South African, Alan Paton who wrote "Cry, the Beloved Country". All these authors are read far more than Sterne who might be good but is hardly read outside of English Literature classes.
15
Charles is very much right about Nabokov, but he meant American as much as he meant English.
As a former Anglo-phile and nascent Ruso-phile, I would argue that the Russian pantheon from Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoeyevsky, down to Nabokov, that great brief flowering of novelists, outshines any American or English equivalents.
Like film, the english language is the most magnificent set of tools (with more than 500k words), badly manipulated by a set of homegrown fools.
Both Conrad and Nabokov realized their motherlode when writing in our mother's tongue.
As a former Anglo-phile and nascent Ruso-phile, I would argue that the Russian pantheon from Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoeyevsky, down to Nabokov, that great brief flowering of novelists, outshines any American or English equivalents.
Like film, the english language is the most magnificent set of tools (with more than 500k words), badly manipulated by a set of homegrown fools.
Both Conrad and Nabokov realized their motherlode when writing in our mother's tongue.
16
I wanted to say that Fnarf is right, because lark is wrong. Conrad and Forster might be competent novelists --although I found their respective flagship novels to be underwhelming-- but they didn't know the language half as well as Nabokov did.
Wanted to, I said, until he said Joyce. Joyce! You're dead to me, Fnarf.
Wanted to, I said, until he said Joyce. Joyce! You're dead to me, Fnarf.
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