The Novel of the Century: Nabokov’s Pale Fire

O.K., I’ll play. You know, the Century-Slash-Millennium List Game. I admit I was reluctant to get into the whole Man -of-the-Century, Movie-of-the-Millennium enterprise. But a couple of things changed my mind: calls from two networks and a newsmagazine on the Hitler question–was he the “most evil” man of the century? should he be Man of Read More

Nabokov’s Pale Ghost: A Scholar Retracts

Something rare and beautiful happened the other evening at the Nabokov celebration at Town Hall. Actually, the whole evening was quite lovely for word lovers, a commemoration of the centenary of Nabokov’s birth (sponsored by PEN, The New Yorker and Vintage Books) with remarks by admirers such as Elizabeth Hardwick, Martin Amis and David Remnick, Read More