Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Nabokov

I've just been amazed by a piece of trivia about my favourite writer. Two pieces of trivia, in fact.
The first is that Nabokov was a boxer, and the second is that his father was Russian Head of State very briefly, in between the era of the Tzar and the Communist takeover. (Apparently he was in charge twice, once in 1905 and once in 1918. I'm not good enough on Russian political history to be able to explain that, but it's what I've been told.)
I don't know why I should be amazed by this. I never pretended to know anything about the man from his books, but these tidbits do seem extraordinary. Does it put his work in a new light? Probably not, simply because the books are so good they don't need that, but what about the former head of state fleeing the Zemblan revolution in 'Pale Fire'?
Next I'll find out JK Rowling throws javelin for Turkmenistan and her sister is Whitney Houston.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your post made me think how I would pick one writer and for a time would read everything I could by them.
I spent one summer reading nothing but Graham Greene.
I was thinking of reading Virginia Woolf this winter.
It is interesting the things we find out about artists that colors the way they view the world.

Joe said...

I would be happy if I never read anything but Nabokov.
It's funny though - I was reading about Graham Greene this morning. At one point in his career he aimed to write 5OO words before lunch. I like that as a target. It's much kinder than 2OOO words a day, which is what I usually strive for.
It would probably take me twice as long to write a book, but at least I'd have plenty of lunches!

Anonymous said...

500 words a day is a feat but to write at your pace,letting your ideas take their time to root, is probably much better.