Understanding Vladimir Nabokov (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)
Snarkmarket (Free subscription) | 12/05/2009
Vladimir Nabokov, interview with the New York Times, 1969: How do you rank yourself among writers (living) and of the immediate past? I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile–some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket, which I would now like to trace in [...]
Cosmic Variance (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I find his wordsmithing absolutely compelling, right up there with Salman Rushdie (which is high praise in my book). Both McCarthy and Rushdie carry the mantle of Vladimir Nabokov (which is the highest praise in my book). Here’s a taste from No Country for Old Men, [...]
mattrutherford.com (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
I confess, I do not believe in time. – Vladimir Nabokov I’m slowly coming to the conclusion that time management is a myth – task management is where we should be focused. Validating the task, planning the task and executing the task – if it’s righteous, then it doesn’t matter how long it takes. Focus [...]
San Fransisco Chronicle (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
The Original of Laura (Dying Is Fun) By Vladimir Nabokov Edited by Dmitri Nabokov (Alfred A. Knopf; 278 pages; $35) Let's imagine that Vladimir Nabokov, like Agatha Christie, wrote a book to be published after his death. Like much of his work, this book would...
The Independent (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
Published as an appendix to this new edition, Nabokov's own spoof review of his luscious autobiography calls it "the meeting point of an impersonal art form and a very personal history".
look back in anger (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009
who says novelists who pen classics that are made into movies don't have style when it comes to cruelly catching butterflies? even though i approve of this look i do have a pet peeve with the brilliant vladimir nabokov. lovers of literature will forever be debating the merits of 'lolita.' i have never felt the need to join in the chess match of wits regarding the impossible tease and the havoc she...
New English Review/The Iconoclast (Free subscription) | 12/03/2009
Vladimir Nabokov, inventor of the emoticon (ROFLMAO :-), would be pleased to see that it has acquired a touch of nuance. From Newsbiscuit, where it crumbles, cookiewise, every day: Two new emoticons were unveiled at a Microsoft Conference in Philadelphia yesterday. Martin Groonstadt, of the University of Utrecht’s Emotional Intelligence Unit hailed the new graphics as a great leap in communications,...
the Literary Saloon (Free subscription) | 12/03/2009
It's probably not worth going too far out of your way, but if you're in the neighborhood -- Rockefeller Center in New York -- the next two days I do recommend that you have a look (as I did yesterday) at the preview for Sale 2227 (to be held 4 December) at the auction house Christie's. Not only can you see Lot 95 -- the original of Vladimir Nabokov's The Original of Laura (whose estimate, by the way,...
San Fransisco Chronicle (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
Vladimir Nabokov's final, fragmentary novel has gone on sale in two versions in Russia, more than 30 years after he asked that it be burned upon his death. The emigre Russian wrote "The Original of Laura" on index cards in 1975-77, the last years of his...
The Book Design Review (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
As announced a few weeks ago, I've asked three independent bookstores to contribute to this year's Favorite Covers of 2009 coverage. Here are the selections from the staff of WORD in Brooklyn, NY . Three more lists (including my selections) are on the way. The only guideline I asked the good folks at WORD to follow was to limit their selections to books published this year, so I was glad to see them...
The Post-Pessimist Association (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
#80 -- "Bend Sinister" by Vladimir Nabokov I should probably get myself to read "Lolita" soon, since it's languished on my bookshelf forever and ever while I read a whole bunch of less famous Nabokov novels. We'll see. Maybe soon. Parts of this one are Nabokov at his best; parts are Nabokov getting way too cute. I was repeatedly reminded of that Updike quote about writing "ecstatically,"...
The Independent (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
Vladimir Nabokov's hitherto unpublished and unfinished work "The Original of Laura" got a warm welcome on Monday in Russia, the author's land of birth, after a debut in New York and London.
the Literary Saloon (Free subscription) | 11/30/2009
A reminder that the manuscript of Vladimir Nabokov's The Original of Laura -- now reduced to Lot 95/Sale 2227 at Christie's -- will be on view at the auction house that is flogging it in New York through 3 December; it goes on sale on the 4th.
Examiner (Free subscription) | 11/30/2009
Vladimir Nabokov's final, fragmentary novel went on sale Monday in two versions in Russia, more than 30 years after he asked that it be burned upon his death.
MSNBC.com: Today (Free subscription) | 11/30/2009
Vladimir Nabokov's final, fragmentary novel, "The Original of Laura," has gone on sale in two versions in Russia, more than 30 years after he asked that it be burned upon his death.
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