Active Users:418 Time:12/03/2025 08:29:01 AM
Pale Fire is an excellent novel, particularly if you like making fun of Robert Frost. Tom Send a noteboard - 03/07/2010 06:39:29 PM
If you find Frost to be melodramatic and ponderous, you will love Pale Fire. It's also an excellent send-up of academic analyses of literary works. The idea is that one man has the rights to publish a poet's last poem following his death and, by means of his annotations to the poem, turns the poem into something about himself. As a result, different people read the book in different ways. You can read the poem separately and then read the notes (as I did), or read each line and then flip back to the notes, or even just read the notes and reference back to the poem from time to time.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
Reply to message
One simple question: - 01/07/2010 11:00:44 PM 1581 Views
Lolita *NM* - 01/07/2010 11:13:10 PM 589 Views
Have you read Pale Fire? *NM* - 03/07/2010 12:14:56 AM 538 Views
No, I haven't. I have, however, been meaning to read The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov... - 03/07/2010 12:36:39 AM 965 Views
Pale Fire is an excellent novel, particularly if you like making fun of Robert Frost. - 03/07/2010 06:39:29 PM 995 Views
I've always planned on reading it. - 04/07/2010 06:30:31 PM 948 Views
Paradise Lost *NM* - 01/07/2010 11:23:22 PM 614 Views
I have the most beautiful copy of Paradise Lost. - 03/07/2010 12:11:40 AM 1053 Views
I only have the cheap paperback from my grad school years - 03/07/2010 12:19:07 AM 1015 Views
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. - 01/07/2010 11:31:52 PM 1059 Views
What is it about? - 03/07/2010 12:14:27 AM 1099 Views
Zen and maintaining motorcycles. *NM* - 03/07/2010 03:44:44 AM 517 Views
*NM* - 03/07/2010 09:39:43 AM 497 Views
The Aeneid, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Macbeth come to mind. *NM* - 02/07/2010 02:29:13 AM 584 Views
I really didn't like Macbeth. - 03/07/2010 12:12:15 AM 1074 Views
It's so wonderfully quotable. - 03/07/2010 12:32:39 AM 975 Views
I'm amazed by these responses. - 02/07/2010 07:10:31 PM 1199 Views
I spent most of my time trying to decide... - 02/07/2010 07:22:26 PM 1142 Views
Same *NM* - 05/07/2010 10:36:59 AM 533 Views
I was a bit too. - 02/07/2010 08:03:29 PM 1111 Views
Well, I know you are, dear. - 05/07/2010 07:45:29 AM 1169 Views
I'm usually in your camp. - 02/07/2010 11:13:35 PM 1053 Views
Fair enough. *NM* - 05/07/2010 07:45:51 AM 517 Views
Then you need to read more. *shrug* - 02/07/2010 11:23:24 PM 1122 Views
RE: insecure - 05/07/2010 07:49:42 AM 1210 Views
You are not excused. - 02/07/2010 11:40:16 PM 1237 Views
Wow. That read enough like Tom that I had to check to make sure it was you. *NM* - 02/07/2010 11:57:26 PM 541 Views
Yeah, it did kinda read like that - 03/07/2010 12:00:17 AM 1161 Views
I take that as a compliment and concur completely with Larry's statement. - 03/07/2010 06:48:05 PM 1065 Views
Heh. I suspected you would. Nice quote. *NM* - 03/07/2010 09:50:55 PM 552 Views
Asking me who I am? Are you kidding? *NM* - 05/07/2010 07:50:53 AM 524 Views
Were you above? - 05/07/2010 08:21:15 AM 1083 Views
You make me want to sing - 05/07/2010 02:32:37 PM 1339 Views
And you make me want to cover my ears - 05/07/2010 07:57:12 PM 1057 Views
Not sure why you're saying that.. - 05/07/2010 08:16:05 PM 1255 Views
I just don't ever want to hear you sing - 05/07/2010 08:36:51 PM 1007 Views
I'm a literary snob? Really? Cool! - 03/07/2010 12:23:55 AM 1035 Views
Fair enough. *NM* - 05/07/2010 07:51:21 AM 476 Views
What is yours? - 05/07/2010 05:19:23 AM 1312 Views
Wraeththu by Storm Constantine is mine. - 05/07/2010 07:51:59 AM 1157 Views
I will read that one day. When I can find it. *NM* - 05/07/2010 11:09:32 PM 507 Views
You should. It's excellent. *NM* - 07/07/2010 06:14:40 AM 456 Views
Re: I'm not excusing you. You're incredibly mean right now. - 09/07/2010 08:33:02 AM 1067 Views
There are many but - 02/07/2010 08:33:44 PM 1126 Views
Re: There are many but - 03/07/2010 12:12:33 AM 927 Views
Easy. The Mahabharatha... - 02/07/2010 11:55:27 PM 1050 Views
Don't tell Roh. - 03/07/2010 12:13:57 AM 977 Views
Which one? - 03/07/2010 12:59:43 AM 1050 Views
Re: Which one? - 05/07/2010 05:28:08 PM 1132 Views
There's a "proper one"? - 06/07/2010 06:03:55 PM 978 Views
It is big. - 08/07/2010 12:14:24 AM 1057 Views
Re: I sent her Kamala Subramaniam's translation. - 09/07/2010 08:20:43 AM 1087 Views
Ahhh... One of my favorites... - 09/07/2010 05:24:55 PM 1407 Views
It's spelled "Mahabharata". - 03/07/2010 06:51:09 PM 994 Views
That's not how it is pronounced though... - 03/07/2010 08:54:27 PM 1048 Views
Traditional pronunciation vs. modern pronunciation - 03/07/2010 09:47:52 PM 1026 Views
I learned Sanskrit for years... - 04/07/2010 01:28:34 AM 958 Views
However... - 04/07/2010 02:31:00 AM 990 Views
Re: Ew. *NM* - 09/07/2010 08:57:03 AM 502 Views
Re: I should have read the thread before bothering to give my skimpy response! - 09/07/2010 08:26:35 AM 1279 Views
Re: Actually, I think those two letter would get an "hh". *NM* - 09/07/2010 08:25:57 AM 510 Views
Re: Yes, but at no point is that war a good thing. - 09/07/2010 08:24:57 AM 1248 Views
American Gods. *NM* - 03/07/2010 04:49:18 AM 522 Views
I really wanted to enjoy that a lot. It was good, but not amazing, imo. - 05/07/2010 05:28:53 PM 1035 Views
Totally agree. Great concept that fell short. *NM* - 06/07/2010 02:46:55 AM 482 Views
Shogun - 03/07/2010 03:08:04 PM 1051 Views
I've been tempted a few times. - 05/07/2010 05:29:18 PM 1156 Views
huh. I always felt that... - 05/07/2010 10:00:29 PM 974 Views
I really liked Tai Pan as well. - 06/07/2010 12:37:58 PM 1067 Views
I'd have to say Noble House is the most impressive of the three. - 06/07/2010 01:30:11 PM 1053 Views
A few that come to mind: Doctor Zhivago, Master & Margarita and Brothers Karamazov - 03/07/2010 06:53:25 PM 1049 Views
I've only read Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. - 05/07/2010 05:30:45 PM 973 Views
It's one of the weaker ones of his "famous" novels. - 06/07/2010 08:08:27 PM 1021 Views
I was somewhat disappointed by the Picture of Dorian Gray - 07/07/2010 05:33:31 AM 972 Views
To Kill a Mockingbird - 05/07/2010 02:30:44 PM 1199 Views
It is excellent. - 05/07/2010 05:31:21 PM 980 Views
Catch-22 *NM* - 06/07/2010 02:27:57 AM 705 Views
+1 *NM* - 06/07/2010 06:07:59 PM 468 Views
A few years ago I would have thought you crazy for this. - 08/07/2010 12:15:02 AM 939 Views
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - 06/07/2010 06:09:12 PM 1018 Views
Hm. - 08/07/2010 12:15:27 AM 1095 Views

Reply to Message