CommentnIn July 1977, Vladimir Nabokov died. He was an Americannwriter whose magnitude, intellectual and literary, grew fromnhis heritage of European civilization. A progeny of Russia’snupper-class intelligentsia—a stratum specific to Eastern Europen—he coalesced the best of the cultural traditions that Francenand England, Russia and Germany have in common.nBefore he moves into the history of literature, we,...

fallen prey, during the last quarter of a century, to a lopsidednview of its own nature, one that can be best expressed by thenvulgar but telling byword “Anything goes.” From all branchesnof knowledge and literature a body of writing has emergednwhose shallowness is often surpassed only by its offensiveness,nbut which is shielded by an ideological...

opinions & ViewsnA Form of Magic,nA Game of Enchantment and DeceptionnVladimir Nabokov: Speak, Memory:nAn Autobiography Revisited; G.P.nPutnam’s Sons; New York, 1966.nby Otto J. ScottnHi L is Swiss Boverness, Mademoiselle,narrived when Nabokov was six andnhis brother five, in 1905—“a year ofnstrikes, riots and police-inspired massacres.”nHe describes her night arrival atnthe station, where she was met by...

Catholics in low esteem; they went tonchurch only on Easter or Christmas.nH is earliest recollections were of learningnhis letters—in English before Russian—andnof discovering that each had antexture and color of its own. His mothernwas delighted; they shared that perceptionnand even agreed on some. To thenboy, a hard “g” was vulcanized rubber, anFrench “a” evoked polished...

The Sweet Melancholy of CivilizationnVladimir Nabokov: Ada or Ardor:nA Family Chronicle; McGraw-Hill,nInc.; New York, 1969.nby Mary Ellen Foxn”For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair”n— Keats: Ode on a Grecian UrnnIn the “anything goes” cultural eranin which we are living, moral shockninduced by behavior slowly becomes anrarity, even a treat. Titillation, once thenpreserve of...

his and Proust’s preoccupations: timenand memory.n-Love. Language. Time. These are thenleitmotifs of the novel, and form a triumviratenand progression: body, mind andnsoul. Ada is the twentieth century’s mostndelightful erotic frolic; it is also, as VannVeen writes in the book’s epilog, “much,nmuch more.” Seen from the perspectivenof the late 70’s, it makes Nabokov’snproposition of coloring memory...

bases of the new order were mass slaughternand “an ugly stupid little nostrumnwhich turns Russian simpletons intoncommunist ninnies, which makes ants •nout of people, a new species called Formicanmarxi var. lenini.” Above all henmocked “the sham aura smacking ofnmiddle-class Philistinism that is in everythingnBolshevik.” In the name of combattingnbourgeois society, the Bolsheviksnwere reducing culture to...

Lolita Then and Now:nMatter-of-Fact Confession of a Non-PenitentnVladimir Nabokov: Lolita; G.P.nPutnam’s Sons; New York, 1958.nby Thomas MolnarnTh . here may yet develop, in literarynand legal circles, a “Lolita case,” as therenhas been a case of Ulysses and of LadynCbatterly’s Lover. This does not meannthat Nabokov’s book reminds me ofneither; if similarities are to be searchednfor,...

Confession of a Non-PenitentnContinued from previous pagenglances at suspicious innkeepers, hotelnguests, and chambermaids. In an epiloguenNabokov relates that some twenty yearsnago he had developed the basic plot in anshort story. One can easily imagine thatnin such a form, appropriately pointed,nthe theme may have been morbid andnobscene, with the hero, like Dostoevski’snSvidrigailov, a grim seducer of...

sensuous images of enchantment givenway to sinister tones, and irony cuts intonself-indulgence.nConsider the long passage that introducesnthe reader to the almost mythicalnpower of nymphets. Humbert begins bynevoking an “enchanted island” in time,nsurrounded by “mirrory beaches and rosynrocks,” and inhabited by maidens betweennnine and fourteen whose beauty is irresistible.nAs he proceeds, however, itnbecomes clear from his...

boarding school. Pnin, the unreformedndreamer, faces her in his characteristicallynintense way only to find that shenwants money and is still writing badnpoetry (“mostly in halting anapest”). Butnshe also tells him that Victor’s father,nwho has left her for South America,nconsiders Pnin the “water father” of thenboy. A victim of one oppressively submissivendevotion, Pnin is on his...

The Value of Art and OrdernVladimir Nabokov: Pale Fire; G.P.nPutnam’s Sons; New York, 1962.nby John Glass, Jr.nTo Lo call Pale Fire a poetic novelnwould be to indulge in a kind ofnNabokovian jest: rather than a poeticnnovel, it is a novel which includes a poem.nThe poem, however, is only one element,nfor among other things Pale Fire...

StagenMamet’s Toying with RealismnDavid Mamet: The Woods; St.nNicholas Theatre, Chicagonby Neil Thackaberryn”Psychology, which works relentlesslynto reduce the unknown to the known,nto the quotidian and the ordinary, is thencause of the theatre’s abasement and itsnfearful loss of energy.”n— Antonin ArtaudnIvavid Mamet, a Chicago playwrightnof talent, young, upcoming andnalready a focus of attention, seems tonbuild his works...

self-esteem, it is Ruth who must consolenand reassure Nick of his worth. In thenexhausted calm which follows the climax,nNick expresses his love for the first time.nBut the audience senses that the momentnfor such declarations has passed and thatnthe relationship which might have been,ndied with the refusal of the bracelet. Theninsensitivity to a trifling metaphor, causesna...

ScreennContinued from previous pagendear human values. And when Paulan(Marsha Mason) announces that love andnhappiness can best be expressed throughna newly purchased bedroom set—that isnwhen she proclaims a petit bourgeoisndelight a center of humanness—she certainlynsounds more believable than thenentire women’s conference in Houston,nor the last ten years’ output of feministnwriting, while Neil Simon scores hisnsweet revenge...

JournalismnPenthouse’s Respectability PitchnA publication entitled Client/MedianNews appears in contemporary Manhattan.nNothing peculiar in this, the tradenpress has its well-appointed role in thencomplex society of today. Occasionally,nit also reveals the brutal hypocrisy usednto forward some special economic interestsnof the publishing industry, andnwhat moral price the society may pay fornthe unmitigated and uncontrollable greednof smut peddlers and pornographic...

polished Southerners most conspicuousnin American history — Washington,nJefferson, Lee—constituted, in truth, annanomaly in the social structure of thenSouth. The few thousand wealthy landownersnwho in 1860 actually ownednthose stately mansions and more thannone hundred slaves apiece were more innthe mold of Andrew Jackson: shrewd,ntough businessmen, who saw the awesomenfertility of the inland pine forestnsoil, and plowed...

Xhe preceding page carries a vignette by Warren Chappell,nthe illustrious American artist, letterer, calligrapher and typendesigner. It is a pictorial comment on Laurence Sterne’s opinionnof critics (Tristram Shandy, Book III, Chap. 12). We can safelynassume that the corruption of the critic, which Sterne calledncant, has deepened since his days. No changes in humannnature have caused...

reasons, nota bene) and this political preference gives her thenfull support of the Liberal Establishment of publishers, editors,ncritics and journalists, who have nothing but polite patiencenfor Catholicism and its complex philosophical tradition, but anwarm sentimentality for communism, especially if it has wonnone’s conscience—the very essence of liberal morality.nWhich brings us to the conclusion that, all...

The PreachingnProfiteernJohn Kenneth Galbraith: The Age of Uncertainty;nby Stephen R. MaloneynxVeading John Kenneth Galbraith’snThe Age of Uncertainty reminds us ofnthe famous dialogue between Hemingwaynand Fitzgerald. “The rich are differentnfrom you and me,” said Fitzgerald.n”Yes,” said Hemingway, “they have morenmoney.” Galbraith agrees that the richnhave more money—and he resents it.nHis hatred, however, makes neither anscientific nor...

cheap, suppressing competition and sellingndear.” We hear echoes, sounds fromnthe distant past, from the time of thenincreasingly hard-up landed aristocracy.nWhat Galbraith despises about the modernnbusinessman is that he is in trade.nOn the other hand, we have the academicpolitician-bureaucrat,na man likenGalbraith. “The modern politician nownranks well above the man of wealth as anperson of distinction,” a...

One of the charms of JohnnCheever’s early work Hes in the humanenbreadth of its sympathies. In a novel likenThe Wapshot Chronicle, or a story liken”A Vision of the World,” Cheever communicatesna good-humored affection fornthe human comedy that lifts his writingnabove the narrow passions and animositiesnof so much fiction in the twentiethncentury. Cheever’s is a minor...

Nothing in the book, in fact, invites anstrong judgment, iorFalconer’s tone doesnnot reflect the humane intelHgence ofnthe great EngHsh tradition, but rathernderives from a fundamental antagonismnto all judgments about good and evil.nCheever is not telling us that we mustnlove men in spite of their sins; his messagenis that we must not condemn themnbecause there is...

Three MaidensnSoiled by an EpochnSara Davidson: Loo^e Change: Three Women of the Sixties;nDoubleday and Company; New York, 1977.nby Mary Ellen FoxnThree little maids from school are wenPert as a school-girl well can benFilled to the brim with girlish gleen-W.S. Gilbert and A. Sullivan: The MikadonIhis is the story of a decade. It isnalso the story...

predictable as a medical text’s guide tonchildhood diseases: sororities; boys; thenPill; promiscuity; blacks; drugs; psychiatricnanalysis; feminism; ecology; easternnmysticism; professional ambitions. Evenntheir infatuation with their own youthnand creation of a Youth Culture seemsnominously familiar: “Youth, youth,nspringtime of beauty” was the reverentnanthem of Mussolini’s Italy. And againntheir frightening ignorance and lack ofnperspective is underlined by Susie’s statement:n”I...

A Cautionary Tale for Adultsnby John Glass, Jr.nAt Lt one point in Lancelot, WalkernPercy’s latest novel, the protagonist andnnarrator, Lancelot Andrewes Lamar,nvisits the set of a movie being made innthe small Southern town in which henlives. Lance’s wife, Margot, has a part innthe movie, and some scenes are beingnfilmed at Belle Isle, the Lamar familynmansion....

Lance has a silent listener to his narrative,na long-time friend called Percival,nwho is now both a Roman Catholic priestnand a psychiatrist. Although Percivalndoes not speak in the novel except tonanswer a series of questions at the end,nhis presence is crucial. It is Percival’snpresence which sparks Lance’s recollectionnof the events which follow the discoverynof Margot’s infidelity,...

The Thriving VirulencenAnd ^^11-Heeled DeviationnGore Vidal: Matters of Fact and of Fiction: Essays 1973-19 76;nRandom House; New York, 1977.nby Otto J. ScottnTh, there is something nearly inexpressiblyndreary about this collection ofnarticles recycled from The New YorknReview of Books and New Statesman.nThey reveal a great deal about the author;ntoo much, in fact, for decency. A sensenof...

that it does not surprise, nor inform, nornentertain. Attitudes that are fashionablenat the expense of intelligence simply bore.nm» /hat is truly surprising is an articlenthat appeared at the end of last year, innThe New York Review of Books, titledn”The Art and Arts of E. Howard Hunt.”nUnlike Vidal, I never heard of Mr. Huntnuntil the Watergate...

A Sad and Maladroit FiestanMorris Dickstein: The Gates of Eden: American Culture in the Sixties;nby Christopher ManionnWien I told a friend who raised hernchildren during the sixties that this booknwas a cultural history of that period, shenreplied: “It must be pretty short.” Andnshe would have been right, had the authornwritten just that. Instead, MorrisnDickstein, who...

which Dickstein considers as the wholenof the culture he is commentating (“rocknwas the culture of the sixties in a uniquenand special way”), his treatment reflectsna labor of love and many well-worn volumesn(and records) on his shelves. He isnat home here, and chides those close tonhim—and not so close: Mailer “groped”nthrough three novels to find himself,nMalamud...

ComineiitnThe feminitie novel, a well-establishednfixture of Western literature, has developedninto a peculiar phenomenon during thenseventies. Today, this kind of novel hasnsucceeded in being identified with women’snliterary output — a blatant abuse of realitynand an insult to women.nThrough centuries, outstanding femalenwriters duly honored the precondition ofnserious writing: to see the world and life innterms of variety...

on the part of a reasonable reader. Men arenreduced by decree to freakishness ornmoronicality, to human junk and refuse.nThis is a vitiated and crippled vision of life ;nit demonstrates the objective paltriness ofnthe neo-feminine novel as a literary genre.nThe obsequious liberal critics, however,navoid reminding us these days what a richnlore of femininity has been created...

The Liberation of a Free Womann—Francine du Plessix Gray:nLovers and TyrantsnNear the end of this novel, the heroine, annup-and-coming writer named Stephanie,nannounces to her lover and tyrant of thenmoment, “We must confront vague ideasnwithdear images.” This is a tall order; shenhas managed here to hit upon one of thenessential tasks of great literature, onenwhich the...

One night in the moonlit desert ofnArizona, Stephanie looks into emptiness:n”Nothing. The key word is ‘nothing’ . . .nNothing . . . Disintegration of matter.nAnarchy. Peace.” Lovers and Tyrantsnshould have ended here. The inner logic ofnStephanie’s career, her liberation, leads tondisintegration. This is too grimly honest fornGray, however; better to blink the truthnthan defect from...

The Piety of an Empty Heartn—Joan Didion:nA Book of Common PrayernFew executives at Gulf & Western —nwhose subsidiary published the book — arenapt to be caught by Joan Didion’s novel, butntheir daughters and wives are likely to benentranced. For that reason, if for no other, itnmight pay businessmen to dip into this talenof life gone...

the women, but Ms. Didion is unusual innbeing remarkably hard on everyone. Nongroup — whether Jewish, Islamic, Latin ornAmerican—is portrayed in other thannwithering sarcasms. In the aggregate thisnastonishes, for the author is considered ansuccessful woman which should have entitlednher to a bit of magnanimity. Apparently,nthe latter does not sell these daysnat Brentano’s which somehow coincidesnwith...

Fish Story-nLois Gould: A Sea-ChangenLois Gould’s latest novel, A Sea-Change,nis pretentious, silly, and mostly plain dull.nThe story concerns two women, two youngngirls, and two men. Much of the action takesnplace during a hurricane, and in that crisisnone of the women emerges as a resourcefulnleader, responsible for saving the lives ofnother characters. The novel in fact...

Jessie is the center of interest in this fishnstory. She is the victim : victim of countlessnmale fashion photographers whose camerasnwere the instruments of their domination,nvictim of Roy and their “old” marriage,nand victim, too, in the opening sequence ofnthe novel of a Negro robber who tied her upnwith a pair of pantyhose and sexuallynassaulted her...

An Epitome of Junk-nGael Greene:nBlue Skies, No CandynWhen confronted with a book like this, thenimpulse is to dismiss it as meretriciousntrash, written to make a killing in thenliterary marketplace, a hit and run novel. Innfact, it is doubtful whether Gael Greenenwould seriously contest this accusation. At anparty attended by New York’s “BeautifulnPeople,” a woman fashion...

cares. Her obligation to her genitals is sonoverwhelmingly serious an undertakingnthat it becomes sadly grotesque, like thenromps of a cheap, tired clown. And becausenKate, the non-person, generates no feelings,nher erotic entanglements create no excitement:nno empathy, no curiosity, no lust.nWe have already relegated the myth ofnDon Juan to the psychiatrist’s couch; he isnconsidered nowadays a symbol...

About thenChronicles of CultttrenThe JRockford College Institute presents annew publication entitled Chronicles ofnCulture. It will feature reviews of booksncredited with an impact on the currentncultural scene, and provide viewpoints thatnare usually eliminated from the literarynmarketplace, or silenced by the LiberalnEstablishment that runs the media.nWe, at the Rockford College Institute,nbelieve that culture is, more than ever,...

About thenRockford CollegenInstitutenThe Rockford College Institute is founded on the premise that both America andnWestern civilization are in urgent need of the revival of certain ideas whichnhave become decomposed, bemuddled and trampled by the culture of our time.nIt attempts to restore reason, order and tradition to their natural role in humannaffairs. It believes that a...

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