Sign in with Facebook
Manny's Reviews > The Gift
The Gift
by
I don't think I know enough about Russian literature to properly get this book, but it did have some great moments. One in particular that I'm often reminded of whenever people on either side of the religion/skepticism debate start saying that things are "obvious". A character is in the middle of an atheist rant. "There's no God!" he exclaims. "It's as obvious as the fact that it's raining right now!" Then Nabokov's camera moves back, and you see that the person upstairs has in fact been watering the flowers on his balcony.
I loved this scene, but I'd be very wary about interpreting it to mean that Nabokov was religious. Just like the non-existence of God: it may be true, but it's not obvious.
by
I don't think I know enough about Russian literature to properly get this book, but it did have some great moments. One in particular that I'm often reminded of whenever people on either side of the religion/skepticism debate start saying that things are "obvious". A character is in the middle of an atheist rant. "There's no God!" he exclaims. "It's as obvious as the fact that it's raining right now!" Then Nabokov's camera moves back, and you see that the person upstairs has in fact been watering the flowers on his balcony.
I loved this scene, but I'd be very wary about interpreting it to mean that Nabokov was religious. Just like the non-existence of God: it may be true, but it's not obvious.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
The Gift.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
December 17, 2008
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-15 of 15 (15 new)
date
newest »
newest »
I'm sorry, Hana! I didn't think this was in any way a typical piece of Nabokov, so don't let yourself be put off. Read Lolita, Pale Fire, Bend Sinister (underrated, IMHO) or Ada!I think cats tend to be more obvious than God. It can be extremely obvious that a cat wants you to do something (feed it, stroke it or open the door for it). But people have a bad history of claiming how obvious it is that God wants them to do things, when in fact it's not obvious at all.
Manny wrote: "I'm sorry, Hana! I didn't think this was in any way a typical piece of Nabokov, so don't let yourself be put off. Read Lolita, Pale Fire, Bend Sinister (underrated, IMHO) or Ada..."My eye automatically picks out the word Nabokov these days even when it's embedded in a great grove of gr up dates.
It's a coincidence that I received The Gift in the post this morning though I may not read it in Noberkov as I've a couple of other titles lined up for this month already..
But speaking of Ada, Manny, or ADA!!!, as I think of it now, Ada definitely puts the 'berk' into Noberkov, and definitely makes me understand why Hana has never managed to finish a Nabookov. How did you finish it, Manny????
By the way, I liked the 'obvious' anecdote...
Ada is a weird book, but I kind of liked it... I'm afraid I've read it twice. The narrator is so engagingly horrible...
Manny wrote: "Ada is a weird book, but I kind of liked it... I'm afraid I've read it twice. The narrator is so engagingly horrible..."I can cope with Van (most of the time), and I love the wordplay and all the embedded references, it's ADA!!! I'm having trouble with - the way she talks even when she's simply saying "Pass me the serving dish": May I have another helping of Peterson's Grouse, Tetrastes bonasia windriverensis?
I do think Naberkov is overpudding the egg.
Well, she's a sexual fantasy. That's how sexual fantasies talk when you're Vladimir Nabokov.
Manny wrote: "Well, she's a sexual fantasy. That's how sexual fantasies talk when you're Vladimir Nabokov."Give me Lolita any day - or even Lucette, Lolita's look-a-like.
2 stars is a crime for this masterpiece. Stop doin' so much maths and start understandin' good fiction gawdammit! ;)
Fionnuala wrote: "Give me Lolita any day - or even Lucette, Lolita's look-a-like."La pauvre petite rousse...
Geoff wrote: "2 stars is a crime for this masterpiece. Stop doin' so much maths and start understandin' good fiction gawdammit! ;)"
Okay, okay, I just gave it another star!
That's more like it! Wow, being mean really works. Lesson learned!
Manny wrote: "Fionnuala wrote: "Give me Lolita any day - or even Lucette, Lolita's look-a-like."La pauvre petite rousse....."
Indeed - we should all pity la rousse..
It's quite the worst thing he does, out of a great many bad things.
Manny wrote: "It's quite the worst thing he does, out of a great many bad things."It was announced early on that Lucette is doomed and I wondered if he's preparing the same fate as he gave Lolita, and Claire Bishop in Sebastian Knight, (view spoiler)
Now that you mention it, Nabokov does remind me a little of Karlsson. World's best Russian novelist, world's best English novelist, world's best translator, world's best lepidopterist, world's best expert on Proust, world's best composer of chess problems... I've scarcely got warmed up yet.
Manny wrote: "Now that you mention it, Nabokov does remind me a little of Karlsson. World's best Russian novelist, world's best English novelist, world's best translator, world's best lepidopterist, world's best..."Geoff will be happy!
So on to the deeper meaning of obviousness....If your cat jumps up on the couch next to you does that mean that the cat loves you? If the cat moves to the other room does the cat not exist? Or is it you who ceases to exist?
Nothing is obvious. Especially as regards human versions of God--and perhaps or particularly also cats. There is a difference. I hope.