Test your early American history ... Then discuss great lit.

[gonzo914]

I still haven't finished Atlas Shrugged, which I started in 1954.

[I.D.10-t]

I did mention that Moby Dick is a bit tedious in places and it can be very hard to get through the tedious stuff but once you get into it there is a wealth of writing and information about Whale hunting, a dying trade.

I must say that I found thecetology sections to be particularly tedious.

Oh, and Jerry, was it Colonel William "Tangier" Smith that the question was asking about?

[dubhlinn]

I agree. When you consider Nabokov's skill at colloquial American English, or English at all for that matter (remembering that it was certainly not his first language), you have to be impressed. In all of Lolita, I detected only one or two very subtle, small giveaways that the author might not be a born Anglophone. That's pretty good.

Then there's the narrative itself. Its skillful yet natural imagery aside (hard enough to do for the native English speaker), the subject was initially shocking, and yet just kept to the razor's edge of Platonic. And as Dubh says, it was most tenderly written. I actually had to put the book down a couple of times early on and catch my breath. It's the rare book that'll do that to me.

Breathtaking for sure.

In the edition I have, Nab makes a comment in the appendix that sez having got the first print back from the publisher and reading through it, he regretted not writing it in his native language as he found English to be very limiting.

That blew me away altogether.

If the prose of Lolita is limited then what would it be like in his own language.
I for one, am glad that he did it in English because I'm too old and feeble to be learning Russian.

While I'm on the subject of great writing, a little hobby of mine is to open a book by F.Scott Fitzgerald and pick a paragraph at random.

Now there's a guy who could put a sentence or two together..and him falling over drunk at the time. Fitz was never one to use a word that the average reader would need to look up in a dictionary but nobody, outside of the great Poets, could use ordinary words in such an extraordinary way.

I'll shut up now..

Slan,
D.

[cowtime]

On the subject of Fitzgerald-

one of my favorite reads is "Zelda" by Nancy Milford(I think)

I find the whole Jazz Age fascinating, and they both are the ultimate of the era.

[Walden]

I read the Classics Illustrated version of Kipling's The Jungle Book. I liked the pictures. That part where the old snake had him a palace that was fun stuff. I like great litature.

[Jerry Freeman]

Oh, and Jerry, was it Colonel William "Tangier" Smith that the question was asking about?

Must have been.

A quick Google reveals that your Colonel had a wife named Martha and a whaling business (among a few other things). I found no mention of tanning salons, BTW, although I believe there actually are quite a few of them on Long Island. Based on what I was able to read quickly, it does appear that Colonel Smith was well diversified in his business activities, so I wouldn't rule it out.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Congratulations]

Now there's a guy who could put a sentence or two together..and him falling over drunk at the time. Fitz was never one to use a word that the average reader would need to look up in a dictionary but nobody, outside of the great Poets, could use ordinary words in such an extraordinary way.

Well, I think Hemingway has Fitzgerald beat in the department, but I agree that Fitzgerald is a very talented writer. Hemingway, though, can make you cry or laugh or scream or squirm with only three-letter words.

[Cynth]

I couldn't make it through Moby Dick in high school and I always felt guilty about it since I more or less pretended I had read the whole thing when I wrote my paper on it---I swear it was the only book I ever did that on. Many years later I decided to try it again. I got out my Bible and my dictionary and I looked up every single darn word and name that I didn't know. I made tons of notes in the margins. It was work but enjoyable and I ended up loving that book. Even the chapter describing the whales, which I had absolutely hated in high school, was fascinating. There are all sorts of puzzles and meanings with the words. If you look up every word that is even slightly puzzling, there won't be any tedious parts----you will be amazed at how every word is chosen for a special reason and at how Melville creates this incredibly complex web or interlockingness. Just read a bit every day when you have some quiet time. I guess I'd better try to find my copy and read it again. There are just so many books to read!

[Walden]

I couldn't make it through Moby Dick in high school and I always felt guilty about it since I more or less pretended I had read the whole thing when I wrote my paper on it---I swear it was the only book I ever did that on. Many years later I decided to try it again. I got out my Bible and my dictionary and I looked up every single darn word and name that I didn't know. I made tons of notes in the margins. It was work but enjoyable and I ended up loving that book. Even the chapter describing the whales, which I had absolutely hated in high school, was fascinating. There are all sorts of puzzles and meanings with the words. If you look up every word that is even slightly puzzling, there won't be any tedious parts----you will be amazed at how every word is chosen for a special reason and at how Melville creates this incredibly complex web or interlockingness. Just read a bit every day when you have some quiet time. I guess I'd better try to find my copy and read it again. There are just so many books to read!

That's like me. When I was a child I hated cranberry sauce. Now I like it. It's like jam.