Tuesday, September 8

"Call me Columbus, I'm here to discover"

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Group Projects: an act of discovery in Nabokov

they must be:

• informative
• and extra, super enjoyable

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observant: look and note things that you wouldn't usually see

The plague of Nabokoviana: unconscious use of adjectives to explain things

2 types of sentences:

1. it does the job of communicating what needs to be communicated
2. it is enjoyable, pleasurable and is 'art for arts sake' (this is a Nabokovian sentence)

Magician:

• magic carpet
• trick
• slight of hand

The act of discovery is really important in Nabokov's novels too, and in reading in general, this is why movies aren't as great as novels. They dumb it down too much, and give too much away up front (this is not always true of course, I'm an avid movie watcher and would be an idiot if this was always true, it's just a gross generalization)

Childlike discovery is also vital to life and Nabokov

Books that put you to sleep:

• The bible
• some of Shakespeare
• Homer
• but NEVER Nabokov ;)

Lolita, part 2:

• a 'road novel' about travelling
• parody: a game (this is what VN is all about)
• not a satire!
• a great American novel, the only difference between Humbert and Nabokov was that HH travelled with his beloved nymphet, while VN travelled with his beloved butterflies

Sam, our resident class genius (yeah Sam!), figured out the code on pg 70 of Speak, Memory: 5.13 24.11 13.16 9.13.5 5.13 24.11 = 'To be or not to be' from Hamlet

Codes:

• the da vinci code uses every literary trick in the book, therefore, making it ridiculous instead of important "Dan Brown... not so much" ~Dr S
• The Alchemist: a good book? no again, you like the idea of the book, but not the book its self
• The Origins of Stories by Brian Boyd
• Haroun and the Sea of stories: "what are the purpose of stories that aren't even true?"

"These are the great pleasures, not the pleasures you get from Perkins Restaurant" ~Dr S

"great cosmic pranksters/ trickster figures"

"Don't put a stumbling block in front of a blind person" ~ Dr. S

"You don't mind being called stupid, do you? Especially if you are stupid" ~Dr S

The word 'real' is the only word that should be put in quotations

Anagrams:

• John Ray Jr= Jr Jr
• Vivian Darkbloom= Vladimir Nabokov
• everyone in the class list is an anagram for everyone else

Albert A Appel is a "demonic puppet master"

synaesthete: mixing of the senses

aesthete

" I discovered in nature the nonutilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a game of intricate enchantment and deception" ~Speak, Memory pg 125