Re: Lolita's Story To Be Printed in US

Chris Ohlhoff (chrisohlhoff@yahoo.com)
Thu, 17 Jun 1999 12:08:44 -0700 (PDT)

I disagree Paul, although I need to increase my knowledge of and
interaction with the works of Chekov, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, I found
Lolita to be a thrilling work.

Nabakov is a master.  What cunning, what style, and even more amazing
to me, is that he is a master in a language not native to him.  This is
not to detract from the achievements of the aforementioned authors, and
I will not allow Lolita the novel to be tarnished by mediocre attempts
at placing it on film, but it is, I think, standing proudly, atop a
tower of literary achievement.

-Chris

--- Paul Kennedy <kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca> wrote:
> It must be my vicarious excitement about Rick and
> Mirjam.  There's no other
> possible explanation for the uncharacteristic
> behaviour that I'm about to
> exhibit.  Who ever thought that me, myself and I
> would be contributing to a
> Nabokov thread?  But here goes:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >Is anyone interested in reading this rip-off, er, I
> mean, book?
> >
> >--- Jim Rovira <jrovira@juno.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Frankly, I find it hard to believe that anybody in
> the world is interested
> in reading the original.  It stinks!  (My sincere
> apologies for the use of
> such elevated language to describe such a piece of
> dog pooh.... Why don't I
> just come out and say what I really think?)
> 
> Give me Anna Karenina any day!  (....or, given the
> bowl within which we all
> swim, "Si vous avez reellement envie d'entendre
> cette histoire, la premiere
> chose que vous voudrez sans doute savoir c'est ou je
> suis ne, ce que fut mon
> enfance pourrie et ce que faisaient mes parents et
> tout avant de m'avoir,
> enfin toute cette salade a la David Copperfield,
> mais a vous parler
> franchement je ne me sens guere dispose a entrer
> dans tout ca....")
> 
> Now, I know I'm probably stepping on a few tender
> dorsal fins, here in the
> bananafish bowl.  And I hope it doesn't instantly
> brand me as some sort of
> Yahoo.  But I found Lolita to be an offensive bore
> when I first read it
> many, many years ago--around about the same time
> that Lindy Fast and I read
> Terry Southern's Candy on the floor of Lindy's
> parents' house, while a wild
> teenage party raged on around us.... But that's
> another story....
> 
> I hated the old movie.  You won't find me darkening
> the door of any cinema
> that's screening the new one--despite Jeremy Irons'
> protestations that it's
> 'art'.... ('though I will defend to the death--well,
> not quite, but
> almost--every cinema's right to show it!)
> 
> Read the Russians, for sure.  But forget these
> modern guys.  Nabokov is
> almost embarassingly weak.  He couldn't pick up
> Dostoyevsky's quill pen if
> he tried.  And Solzhenitzen is a joke in
> contemporary Russia.  Try Tolstoy!
> Check out Chekov!!  Leave the literary creations of
> the Cold War out in the
> cold, where they belong.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Lolita's Story To Be Printed in US
> >> 
> >> .c The Associated Press
> >> 
> >>  NEW YORK (AP) - A retelling of ``Lolita'' from
> the
> >> nymphet's point of
> >> view 
> >> will be published in the United States under an
> >> agreement with author 
> >> Vladimir Nabokov's son, who had called the new
> book
> >> a rip-off.
> >> 
> >> Under the deal with new publisher Foxrock Inc.,
> >> Dmitri Nabokov will write
> >> a 
> >> preface, and author Pia Pera will write an
> afterword
> >> to the
> >> English-language 
> >> U.S. edition. Both will receive 5 percent of
> >> royalties from the edition,
> >> The 
> >> New York Times reported today.
> >> 
> >> In November, publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux
> had
> >> settled a copyright 
> >> infringement lawsuit filed by Dmitri Nabokov by
> >> canceling plans to
> >> publish 
> >> ``Lo's Diary'' this summer.
> >> 
> >> The book, published in Italy and several other
> >> countries, can now be 
> >> published in Britain and is set for an October
> U.S.
> >> publishing date.
> >> 
> >> The agreement also protects the copyright
> interests
> >> of Dmitri Nabokov in
> >> his 
> >> late father's book, which has sold 50 million
> copies
> >> in 20 languages.
> >> 
> >> But because there was no legal ruling, the
> question
> >> of how far authors
> >> can go 
> >> in using characters and scenes created by others
> >> remains unresolved.
> >> 
> >> In her book, Ms. Pera, 42, parodies Nabokov's
> story
> >> of a middle-age
> >> professor 
> >> sexually obsessed with a 12-year-old girl,
> writing
> >> the tale from the
> >> child's 
> >> point of view.
> >> 
> >> The lawsuit to block U.S. and British publication
> of
> >> ``Lo's Diary'' was
> >> filed 
> >> in Manhattan federal court in October.
> >> 
> >> The suit claimed the book is ``inferior and
> >> amateurish merchandise'' that
> >> 
> >> tarnishes the reputation of Nabokov's original
> work.
> >> ``Lolita,''
> >> published in 
> >> the United States in 1955 by Random House, is
> >> protected under copyright
> >> until 
> >> 2050.
> >> 
> >> AP-NY-06-17-99 0954EDT
> >> 
> >>  Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.  The
> >> information  contained in the
> >> AP 
> >> news report may not be published,  broadcast,
> >> rewritten or otherwise 
> >> distributed without  prior written authority of
> The
> >> Associated Press. 
> >> 
> >>  
> >> 
> >> To edit your profile, go to keyword <A 
> >> HREF="aol://1722:NewsProfiles">NewsProfiles
> >> </A>.
> >> For all of today's news, go to keyword <A
> >> HREF="aol://1722:News">News</A>.
> >> 
> >> --part1_495759bf.249a77b1_boundary--
> >> --------- End forwarded message ----------
> >> 
> >>
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