nabokov = genius

Had already read Lolita and Pale Fire, so reviewing this just for Pnin.

As is customary with Nabokov, Pnin is cleverly written, with some brilliant turns of phrase, and sometimes amusing. This is obviously heavily autobiographical, and one gets the sense that Nabokov himself was much like Pnin, though perhaps less bumbling. He was probably just as pedantic, though, and it is the pedantic nature of this character that annoys me. Who cares, for example, where the pronunciation emphasis of "interested" is placed? Just pronounce it in your own way, man. Strongly prefer Speak, Memory for a depiction of Nabokov's life, as the pedantry is better disguised there.

From Lolita I learned about immortaliy and the cosmc joke of giving us unlimited imagination in a limited lifetime.

I'm trying to actually read this since I couldn't find the audio version. Not going so well. :/ I need more hours in the day. Eerie "story," but lots of good vocabulary words.

This is my second reading of Pnin; best bits: teeth replacement, psychoanalysis quackery and death camp evocation. The brief interpolation of Pnin's father in chapter five's summer retreat was confusing. Pale Fire is experimentally bizarre, a fun puzzle. Lolita a masterwork in one sock.