Reading Nabokov
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Vladimir Nabokov-1899-1977 Ann-Margret “Maggie Yonan” 1998
Vladimir Nabokov-1899-1977 Ann-Margret “Maggie Yonan” 1998 The eldest son of Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov and his wife Elena, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was born on April 22, 1899 into a Russian aristocratic family who fled Russia in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. One of five children, Nabokov was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and was part of a household that spoke Russian, English, and French, making Nabokov tri-lingual at an early age. In 1917 the Nabokov family left Vyra for a friend's estate near Yalta in the Crimea, where they remained for 18 months. Following the defeat of the White Army in the Crimea, the Nabokovs left Russia for exile in western Europe. After emigrating from Russia in 1919 the family settled briefly in England, where Vladimir enrolled in Trinity College in Cambridge and studied Slavic and romance languages. In 1923 he graduated from Cambridge and relocated to Berlin, where he gained some reputation within the colony of Russian emigres as a novelist and poet, writing under the pseudonym Vladimir Sirin. Nabokov had lived in Vyra, Russia with his family, and in 1925 marries Véra Slonim, a Russian émigré, living in Berlin. Their son, Dmitri, was born in 1934. In 1937, Vladimir and his family left Berlin for Paris due to their disgust with the Nazi regime and in light of Mrs. Nabokov's Jewish heritage. In Paris, VN continued to write in Russian, composed a few works in French, and also wrote his first novel in English, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. -
Vladimir Nabokov Lolita by John Lennard “There Are No Verbal Obscenities
Literature Insights General Editor: Charles Moseley Vladimir Nabokov Lolita by John Lennard “there are no verbal obscenities ... in Lolita, only the low moans of ... abused pain.” HEB ☼ FOR ADVICE ON THE USE OF THIS EBOOK PLEASE SCROLL TO PAGE 2 Reading t * This book is designed to be read in single page view, using the ‘fit page’ command. * To navigate through the contents use the hyperlinked ‘Book- marks’ at the left of the screen. * To search, click the magnifying glass symbol and select ‘show all results’. * For ease of reading, use <CTRL+L> to enlarge the page to full screen, and return to normal view using < Esc >. * Hyperlinks (if any) appear in Blue Underlined Text. Permissions Your purchase of this ebook licenses you to read this work on- screen. No part of this publication may be otherwise reproduced or transmitted or distributed without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher. You may print one copy of the book for your own use but copy and paste functions are disabled. Making or distributing copies of this book would constitute copyright infringement and would be liable to prosecution. Thank you for respecting the rights of the author. ISBN 978-1-84760-073-8 Vladimir Nabokov: ‘Lolita’ John Lennard HEB ☼ Humanities-Ebooks, LLP Copyright © John Lennard, 2008 The Author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published by Humanities-Ebooks, LLP, Tirril Hall, Tirril, Penrith CA10 2JE Contents Preface Part 1. -
Syllabus Midlife Nabokov - 44842
Syllabus Midlife Nabokov - 44842 Last update 29-07-2018 HU Credits: 2 Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master) Responsible Department: English Academic year: 0 Semester: 2nd Semester Teaching Languages: English Campus: Mt. Scopus Course/Module Coordinator: Leona Toker Coordinator Email: [email protected] Coordinator Office Hours: Mondays 17:15-18:15, room 7824 Teaching Staff: Prof Leona Toker page 1 / 4 Course/Module description: The course is devoted to a shift of concerns and values that began in Vladimir Nabokovs fiction in the late 1930s. It focuses on the features that replaced the motif of the happiness of freedom that characterized much of his early fiction. Methodologies of close reading will be used to analyze the relationship between his narrative art and the ethical concerns of his fiction up to the late 1950s: though Nabokov refused to put literature at the service of political engagement, the themes and attitudes of his work were, in their own way, responsive to the socio-political realities of the twentieth century. Course/Module aims: To relate narratological issues to the ethical attitudes explored in each work. To enhance the appreciation of the artistic merit and potential effects of literary works that reject political engagement. To point to indirect artistic expressions of ideological positions. To practice methods of close narratological analysis. To demonstrate the creative potential of multilingualism. To refute sundry misconceptions about Nabokovs work. To work towards a theory of narrative ethics. Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: understand the nature of Nabokovs artistic achievement, analyze the structure, the contexts, and the aims of some of Nabokovs major works, observe a mid-career shift in the values and the methods of Nabokovs fiction, perfect methods of narratological and stylistic analysis, be prepared to tackle other texts by Nabokov and his contemporaries, be aware of the main trends in Nabokov criticism, write research papers based on nuanced textual analysis. -
Athletic Inspiration: Vladimir Nabokov and the Aesthetic Thrill of Sports Tim Harte Bryn Mawr College, [email protected]
Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Russian Faculty Research and Scholarship Russian 2009 Athletic Inspiration: Vladimir Nabokov and the Aesthetic Thrill of Sports Tim Harte Bryn Mawr College, [email protected] Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/russian_pubs Custom Citation Harte, Tim. "Athletic Inspiration: Vladimir Nabokov and the Aesthetic Thrill of Sports," Nabokov Studies 12.1 (2009): 147-166. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/russian_pubs/1 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tim Harte Bryn Mawr College Dec. 2012 Athletic Inspiration: Vladimir Nabokov and the Aesthetic Thrill of Sports “People have played for as long as they have existed,” Vladimir Nabokov remarked in 1925. “During certain eras—holidays for humanity—people have taken a particular fancy to games. As it was in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, so it is in our present-day Europe” (“Braitenshtreter – Paolino,” 749). 1 For Nabokov, foremost among these popular games were sports competitions. An ardent athlete and avid sports fan, Nabokov delighted in the competitive spirit of athletics and creatively explored their aesthetic as well as philosophical ramifications through his poetry and prose. As an essential, yet underappreciated component of the Russian-American writer’s art, sports appeared first in early verse by Nabokov before subsequently providing a recurring theme in his fiction. The literary and the athletic, although seemingly incongruous modes of human activity, frequently intersected for Nabokov, who celebrated the thrills, vigor, and beauty of sports in his present-day “holiday for humanity” with a joyous energy befitting such physical activity. -
Authorship in Nabokov's Prefaces
Authorship in Nabokov’s Prefaces Authorship in Nabokov’s Prefaces By Jacqueline Hamrit Authorship in Nabokov’s Prefaces, by Jacqueline Hamrit This book first published 2014 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2014 by Jacqueline Hamrit All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-6682-2, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-6682-8 To Marine TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One ................................................................................................. 5 On a Book Entitled Lolita 1) Publishers and first readers - Desire to publish - Resistance to publish and censorship - Incorrect interpretations - Misunderstandings 2) Good readers and good interpretations - Lolita as a love affair - Good readers - Nabokov’s interpretation 3) The author as a Janus-like persona - The author as a constraining figure - The author and the reader facing each other - The author as a ghostly figure Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 30 Introduction to Bend Sinister 1) -
Chronology of Lolita
Chronology of Lolita CHRONOLOGY OF LOLITA This chronology is based on information gathered from the text of Nabokov’s Lolita as well as from the chronological reconstructions prepared by Carl Proffer in his Keys to Lolita and Dieter Zimmer’s online chronology at <http://www.d-e-zimmer.de/LolitaUSA/LoChrono.htm> (last accessed on No- vember 13, 2008). For a discussion of the problems of chronology in the novel, see Zimmer’s site. The page numbers in parenthesis refer to passages in the text where the information on chronology can be found. 1910 Humbert Humbert born in Paris, France (9) 1911 Clare Quilty born in Ocean City, Maryland (31) 1913 Humbert’s mother dies from a lightning strike (10) 1923 Summer: Humbert and Annabel Leigh have romance (11) Autumn: Humbert attends lycée in Lyon (11) December (?): Annabel dies in Corfu (13) 1934 Charlotte Becker and Harold E. Haze honeymoon in Veracruz, Mexico; Dolores Haze conceived on this trip (57, 100) 1935 January 1: Dolores Haze born in Pisky, a town in the Midwest (65, 46) April: Humbert has brief relationship with Monique, a Parisian prostitute (23) Humbert marries Valeria Zborovski (25, 30) 1937 Dolly’s brother born (68) 1939 Dolly’s brother dies (68) Humbert receives inheritance from relative in America (27) Valeria discloses to Humbert that she is having an affair; divorce proceedings ensue (27, 32) xv Chronology of Lolita 1940 Winter: Humbert spends winter in Portugal (32) Spring: Humbert arrives in United States and takes up job devising and editing perfume ads (32) Over next two years -
Nabokov's Speak, Memory As
THE EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF LIFE WRITING VOLUME VIII(2019)28–46 The Memoirist against History: Nabokov’s Speak, Memory as the (re)negotiation of a literary form at the intersection of personal experience and historical narrative Michael Sala University of Newcastle, Australia Abstract: Nabokov’s Speak, Memory is a literary memoir that negotiates the relationship between history and personal experience by illuminating one end of a spectrum of authoritative effects that range from artifice to sponta- neity. In using play to leverage and highlight the tension between the artifice of a work of literature and the spontaneity of personal expression (or sense making on an individual level,) and by implicating both reader and writer within that tension, it demonstrates how literary memoir can negotiate its relationship to its genre. There are thus two forms of negotiation at work in Speak, Memory, the one between artifice and spontaneity, the other between individual experience and historical narrative. In this way, by using play to invite the reader into the interpretative act, Nabokov emphasises the role of artifice in the autobiographical project, and, by doing so, stakes out a claim for the literary autobiographical writer in the face of historical narrative. Keywords: Nabokov, history, memoir, artifice One of the most studied episodes in Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiographi- cal work, Speak, Memory, is a sequence of events in the opening chapter unified by what the author describes as “the match stick theme.” The episode involves two encounters with Alexey Nikolayevich Kuropatkin, a member of the old Russian aristocracy. During the first encounter, at the European Journal of Life Writing, Vol VIII, 28–46 2019. -
From Russia to America: the Depiction of Nationality in Nabokov’S Work
From Russia to America: The Depiction of Nationality in Nabokov’s Work Julian W. Connolly University of Virginia A truly international writer, Vladimir Nabokov once 26). Of course, even at this point Nabokov had declared: “the nationality of a worthwhile writer is moved on from America to Switzerland, though he of secondary importance […] The writer’s art is his always thought he might return to the States and he real passport. His identity should be immediately never relinquished in American citizenship. recognized by a special pattern or unique coloration” (Strong Opinions, 63). Despite this affirmation, An avid and accomplished lepidopterist as well however, the treatment of nationalities in Nabokov’s as a celebrated writer, Nabokov was a perceptive work is highly individualized and distinctive. He observer of the world around him. It is not surprising, himself traveled along an extraordinarily complex then, that his creative work would feature indelible path through life. Born into a wealthy family in St. portraits of the peoples and places he had come Petersburg, Russia, Nabokov was forced to leave to know in his life. As one looks carefully at his his homeland in 1919 because of the Bolshevik writings, one sees that each of the lands Nabokov Revolution. He attended Cambridge University in depicted is given a distinctive national coloring, England, and after graduation moved to Berlin to and it is likely that Nabokov’s personal experience launch a career as a writer. After a decade and a of living in these different lands had a decisive half he moved again, this time to France when life influence on they way they emerge in his art. -
Aurelian, by William Ware 1
Aurelian, by William Ware 1 Aurelian, by William Ware The Project Gutenberg EBook of Aurelian, by William Ware This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Aurelian or, Rome in the Third Century Author: William Ware Release Date: June 28, 2007 [EBook #21953] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 Aurelian, by William Ware 2 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AURELIAN *** Produced by Julia Miller, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) AURELIAN; OR, ROME IN THE THIRD CENTURY IN LETTERS OF LUCIUS M. PISO, FROM ROME, TO FAUSTA, THE DAUGHTER OF GRACCHUS, AT PALMYRA. BY WILLIAM WARE, AUTHOR OF "ZENOBIA," "JULIAN," ETC. FIFTH EDITION. TWO VOLUMES COMPLETE IN ONE. VOL. I. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER, (SUCCESSOR TO C. S. FRANCIS & CO.) 647 BROADWAY. 1874. Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1838, By CHARLES S. FRANCIS, in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of New York. * * * * * Aurelian, by William Ware 3 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1866, By MARY WARE, in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of New York. NOTICE. This book--a sequel to Zenobia--published nearly ten years ago under the name of 'Probus,' was soon republished, in several places abroad, under that of 'Aurelian.' So far from complaining of the innovation, I could not but regard it as a piece of good fortune, as I had myself long thought the present a more appropriate title than the one originally chosen. -
Vladimir Nabokov's Representations of America in Lolita an Honors
“Lovely, Trustful, Dreamy, Enormous”: Vladimir Nabokov’s Representations of America in Lolita An Honors Paper for the Department of English By Tully Patrick Moyer Bowdoin College, 2018 Ó2018 Tully Moyer Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………iii Introduction ………….……………………………………………………………...………….…1 Not-so-separate Spheres: Privacy and Publicity in American Hotels and Motels..…….…….….. 9 Humbert the Persuader: Contradictory Criticisms of American Consumerism….………….….. 50 Connection to Place: Seeking an American Identity…………………….…………………..…. 98 Coda……...……………………………………………………………………….………...…..138 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………….…………....141 ii Acknowledgements Thank you to Professor Morten Hansen, my advisor on this project, for reading countless drafts, providing honest and productive feedback, and taking the time to talk about things at every step along the way. And of course, thank you for your guidance throughout my time in the Bowdoin English department, from my first year until now, constantly believing I can do better and showing me how to get there. Thank you to my readers, Professor Meredith McCarroll and Professor Hilary Thompson, for your thoughtful consideration and comments throughout the year. I appreciate your unique perspectives that have challenged me to think about my work in entirely new ways. Thank you to Professor Celeste Goodridge, for your years of service to Bowdoin College and the immeasurable impact that you had on the lives of so many Bowdoin students. Beginning with my first college English course, your passion and brilliance inspired me to think about the English language and my time as a student in an entirely different way. I have always valued the time that you took, long after your role as my professor ended, to care for my education and life more generally, and all of my future intellectual pursuits will be shaped in a significant way by my time with you. -
Nabokov's Lolita Spring 2021
Nabokov’s Lolita FNDL 25300, REES 20004, GNSE 24900, ENGL 28916, SIGN 26027 Spring 2021 NB: This course is conducted remotely Malynne Sternstein [email protected] Office hours over Zoom TBA Teaching assistants: Office hours TBA Eliza Beckerman-Lee Victoria Berman Evelyn Burd [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Reading: Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. (Any edition, but the preference is for Alfred Appel’s annotated edition; Vintage, Rev. edition, 1991) Requirements: 1. Attendance and participation: 20%; 2. Weekly discussion posts: 40% • 250-500 words responding to one of three prompts available on the Canvas discussion thread 3. Midterm: write a letter, postcard, review, response, etc. in the voice of a character in the novel: 20% 4. Final: Imagine and materialize: 20% • Choose a scenario, text, place, or character in the novel and imagine these materializing further. For example, make a tourist map of one of the towns referred to in the novel, give a fulsome backstory to a “minor” character, file an accident report involving Charlotte Haze, Sketch the layout of the Enchanted Hunter’s Lodge, or create its dining room’s menu and sign, advertising and facilities, write sections of one of the fictitious texts mentioned in the novel, like “Do the Senses Make Sense?” or Quilty’s play “The Enchanted Hunter,” recreate the clothing store where Humbert Humbert purchases clothing for his Lolita, recreate the wedding of Richard Schiller and Dolores Haze, plant Charlotte’s garden, etc., etc. NB: Past projects for the course have included a mobile, a painting, a sculpture, Dolores Haze’s ‘diary,’ expository prose with schizoid marginalia, performance, songs, plays, maps, parody film reviews, short film, photographic essays, etc. -
Martin Amis on Vladimir Nabokov's Work | Books | the Guardian
Martin Amis on Vladimir Nabokov's work | Books | The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/14/vladimir-naboko... The problem with Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov's unfinished novella, The Original of Laura, is being published despite the author's instructions that it be destroyed after his death. Martin Amis confronts the tortuous questions posed by a genius in decline Martin Amis The Guardian, Saturday 14 November 2009 larger | smaller Vladimir Nabokov in Switzerland, in about 1975. Photograph: Horst Tappe/Getty Images Language leads a double life – and so does the novelist. You chat with family and friends, you attend to your correspondence, you consult menus and shopping lists, you observe road signs (LOOK LEFT), and so on. Then you enter your study, where language exists in quite another form – as the stuff of patterned artifice. Most writers, I think, would want to go along with Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), when he reminisced in 1974: The Original of Laura: (Dying is Fun) a Novel in Fragments (Penguin Modern Classics) by Vladimir Nabokov 304pp, Penguin Classics, £25 1 of 11 11/15/09 12:59 AM Martin Amis on Vladimir Nabokov's work | Books | The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/14/vladimir-naboko... Buy The Original of Laura: (Dying is Fun) a Novel in Fragments (Penguin Modern Classics) at the Guardian bookshop ". I regarded Paris, with its gray-toned days and charcoal nights, merely as the chance setting for the most authentic and faithful joys of my life: the coloured phrase in my mind under the drizzle, the white page under the desk lamp awaiting me in my humble home." Well, the creative joy is authentic; and yet it isn't faithful (in common with pretty well the entire cast of Nabokov's fictional women, creative joy, in the end, is sadistically fickle).