This was my third reading of Pale
Fire. It is one of the great literary masterpieces of the 20th century.
It is essentially an exegesis of an extended narrative poem, the latter a
masterwork in its own right.
The narrative line of the book at large is carried
by several characters, each of which reveals in his telling who he is. John Shade himself is the protagonist—the name is a clue to the book’s
climactic murder (or is it a suicide?)
It leaves, last standing and validates
him as a real existent, as opposed to a Charles Kinbote, a highly literate
madman who relates all events in an ordinary New England town, centered on
Wordsmith College, to events in his native land,
Zembla, which may or may not actually exist.
The reader may conclude that by
leaving this surreal character, the last man standing, the author has contrived to make a work that survives himself. Nabokov has written many books, not least the scandalizing Lolita—each a monument to the creative imagination.
A darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue—and "one of the great works of art of this century" (Mary McCarthy)—from one of the leading writers of the 20th century.
In Pale Fire Nabokov offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures: a 999-line poem by the reclusive genius John Shade; an adoring foreword and commentary by Shade's self-styled Boswell, Dr. Charles Kinbote; a darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue.
This book is an account of the life of Samuel Johnson, author of the first dictionary in English and a man of
enormous talent and learning—and also a man of devastatingly quick wit.
Perhaps his story can be recounted in terms of just a few of these vignettes and quips from the book.
Johnson was a sophisticated
denizen of his beloved London; James Boswell, a Scotsman who tells his story—
obviously, himself a man of letters, was a friend, devotee, and admirer of
Johnson's, whom he took several times to visit Boswell's beloved Scotland. Johnson: "The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!"
Johnson on sailing vessels: "Being on a ship is [like] being in a jail—with a [greater] chance of being drowned."
And he could laugh at himself. Johnson: The definition in his dictionary of the word lexicographer: "A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge."
In Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy and originality, in a biography to which we owe much of our knowledge of the man himself. Through a series of richly detailed anecdotes, Johnson emerges as a sociable figure, vigorously engaging and fencing with great contemporaries such as Garrick, Goldsmith, Burney and Burke, and of course with Boswell himself. Yet anxieties and obsessions also darkened Johnson's private hours, and Boswell's attentiveness to every facet of Johnson's character makes this biography as moving as it is entertaining.
I have treasured James’s work, having
been deeply engrossed in the great trilogy of The Wings of the Dove,The
Ambassadors, and TheGolden
Bowl.
At some point, it occurred to me that I hadn’t read the perhaps less celebrated The Portrait of a Lady, so I read it. It is by no means a lightweight piece—the action sprawling, as it does over two continents and across two stages in
the life of the eponymous lady, Isabel Archer.
After being brutally
betrayed by false friends and advisors as a young woman, she finds redemption
in her mature life.
When Isabel Archer, a young American woman with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as "a place of brightness, of free expression, of irresistible action". She turns aside from suitors who offer her their wealth and devotion to follow her own path. But that way leads to disillusionment and a future as constricted as "a dark narrow alley with a dead wall at the end". In a conclusion that is one of the most moving in modern fiction, Isabel makes her final choice. "The Portrait of a Lady" is considered the masterpiece of James's middle…
Physical evolution occurs when an element or trait replicates itself in
nature. Jung’s analytical psychology embodies
the Darwinian element of culturalevolution—not just creatures, but cultures evolve.
I
have recognized that culture is the
vehicle for the evolution of our minds, and hence, I have labeled Jung the Darwin of the mind. I
hold, further, that the evolution of culture is a teleological one—from the
less conscious to the more conscious—and hence, we all have it to a greater or
lesser extent.
Great minds have consciousness in the fullest measure—and Carl Jung was one of the great
thinkers of our era. I try to present him in a comprehensive, non-technical way—readily accessible to the ordinary reader.
