Vladimir Nabokov: Poetry and the Lyric Voice

Paul D. Morris. Vladimir Nabokov: Poetry and Lyric Voice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010. xxv, 447 pp. Bibliography. Index. $75.00, cloth.Like other recent monographic contributions field of Nabokov studies (cf. latest works by Stephen H. Blackwell, Gavriel Shapiro and Eric Naiman), Paul D. Morris's expansive study seeks view writer's oeuvre from a new angle. In this instance it is provided by author's interest and poetic element discernible his celebrated prose and undervalued theatre.Morris sees Nabokov's poetic and as a vast sun illuminating everything he wrote (p. 318). Guided by this notion, he proposes to effect shift perception necessary (re-)discover place of poetry (p. xvi), obscured as this place appears be by critical myopia (p. 43). Morris summarizes reception of poetry, concludes that it is still unexamined as a coherent body and proceeds read it according intrinsic principles of assessment (p. 89). It is here where Morris's claims originality lie: this study is the first book-length discussion of poetry (p. xxii); attention given what he lyric allows Morris see the formal and thematic integrity of writing (p. 1 1). Chapter 3, however, is only section of book deal exclusively with poetry. There Morris outlines its major themes (see especially pp. 1 14-184) and focuses on a number of Russian and English texts trace evolution of verse. Armed with insight obtained from his contemplation of poetry, Morris demonstrates its importance our understanding of drama (chapter 4), short stories (chapter 5) and Gift (chapter 6). He finally focuses on Pale Fire, where different strains art converge unity of a narrative poem at core of that genretranscending novel (chapter 7).Morris succeeds building a strong case for lyricism as one of most salient tenets of poetics. Especially perceptive is Morris's explication of sensibility his drama, starting with such early, little-studied experiments as Wanderers, Death, Grand-dad, Tragedy of Mr. Morn, Pole, Man from USSR, and moving on such complex mature works as Event and Waltz Invention. This line of analysis results informative reflections and juxtapositions. In his examination of Pale Fire, for example, Morris draws a convincing parallel between Kinbote and Gon ville from Death (see p. 346), effectively underlining integrity of oeuvre. Most valuable are pages devoted separate poems, both deservedly well-known (An of Russian Poetry, Evening on a Vacant Lot, Fame, The Ballad of Longwood Glen, and others) and far less popular pieces (In a crystal ball we were enclosed, On Golgotha, etc.). Readers will find useful Morris's analysis of poems embedded Gift (see pp. 300-306).Morris underscores dearth of responses informed by an appropriate conceptual approach, or language, with which address it (see p. 57), and seeks counter this insufficiency by evaluating poetic enterprise in its own terms (p. 55). Although unquestionably beneficial with regard poetic juvenilia traditionally ignored by critics and scholars, such a strategy is not without its limitations when it concerns works distinguished by what Nabokov termed his belatedly discovered robust style. …

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.