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A review by founddrama
The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov by Vladimir Nabokov
3.0
Explanatory Background Statement: You will notice that this book is shelved "unfinished". In between novels and on a short fiction kick, I decided that I should at least dip my toes into a few hallowed literary names before taking on the mantle of my next Big Read. Ellison was one (see also) and Nabokov was the other. I didn't crack the covers on this one expecting to finish it. Especially as I hefted the thick volume from the library's shelf, I knew that my goal was only to get my feet wet.
My Review (more about Nabokov than this collection, specifically): Nabokov is eloquent and purposeful in his prose. Even as diaphanous metaphors dance fairy-like around The Point, The Point is there -- some artful nugget of Truth upon which he has fixed and thrust his (and now your) attention. I often wonder what gets lost or otherwise muddied in the translation. Which stories are written in "the original Russian" and which in English? Need I not worry about that at all? But I worry that certain expressive techniques don't come across correctly. Alliteration, for example: could an alliterative phrase in one tongue have no analogous transformation? I suppose you could always supplement with a footnote.
Anyway, I feel like a troglodyte saying it but: Nabokov's writing sure is artful but there just wasn't very much in it that I found... compelling. However, "Russian Spoken Here"? A+
I expect to circle back on this collection again, perhaps finish it off, and find more to love.
My Review (more about Nabokov than this collection, specifically): Nabokov is eloquent and purposeful in his prose. Even as diaphanous metaphors dance fairy-like around The Point, The Point is there -- some artful nugget of Truth upon which he has fixed and thrust his (and now your) attention. I often wonder what gets lost or otherwise muddied in the translation. Which stories are written in "the original Russian" and which in English? Need I not worry about that at all? But I worry that certain expressive techniques don't come across correctly. Alliteration, for example: could an alliterative phrase in one tongue have no analogous transformation? I suppose you could always supplement with a footnote.
Anyway, I feel like a troglodyte saying it but: Nabokov's writing sure is artful but there just wasn't very much in it that I found... compelling. However, "Russian Spoken Here"? A+
I expect to circle back on this collection again, perhaps finish it off, and find more to love.