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*
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*
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
Re: No, I haven't. I have, however, been meaning to read The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov...
03/07/2010 12:38:22 AM
- 997 Views
Is it unfinished? I seem to recall that, but I could be mistaken... *NM*
03/07/2010 02:15:07 AM
- 548 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
I've read all of Pelevin's books other than t, which recently was released.
04/07/2010 06:40:04 PM
- 987 Views
Sorry. I'm going to have to get back to you on this later.
04/07/2010 07:22:31 PM
- 1058 Views
No problem. I'm stinking drunk and blew up shit to celebrate America's independence.
05/07/2010 05:03:42 AM
- 1096 Views
Paradise Lost *NM*
01/07/2010 11:23:22 PM
- 614 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
The Aeneid, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Macbeth come to mind. *NM*
02/07/2010 02:29:13 AM
- 584 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
Well. I mean a book/story that you thought was pretty close to perfection.
02/07/2010 08:02:55 PM
- 1284 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
I take that as a compliment and concur completely with Larry's statement.
03/07/2010 06:48:05 PM
- 1065 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
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
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

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
Re: Parva is not a translation of the MB, though, is it. It's a reinterpretation. Which is fine.
09/07/2010 11:01:43 PM
- 1131 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
See, I was taught that ध produced the sound in "that" and थ the sound in "thought".
04/07/2010 02:44:56 AM
- 1047 Views
Re: I should have read the thread before bothering to give my skimpy response!
09/07/2010 08:26:35 AM
- 1279 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
Shogun
03/07/2010 03:08:04 PM
- 1051 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