I have two that folks say “No way!”: Ada by Nabokov and Tree of Life by Terrence Malick. I’ll give you a free week to paid posts if you get personal with me: on anything, BTW—even horrors, politics. I did write one column on that, oy! Love, Mary
Hi, Frank, I love _Pale Fire_ though have to admit that I'm still trying to fully figure it out. I actually think Nabokov shoulda won the Nobel for Literature. I love your line about The Thin Red Line--had never read that before. Malick's work is bemusing to many but to me it's gorgeous and courageous. We must connect ... Love, Mary
I’m not familiar with either of those, but was impressed by the 1000 lines of heroic couplets in Nabokov’s Pale Fire and was affected by Malick’s The Thin Red Line.
Pale Fire is also very funny:
“Another tormenter inquired if it was true that I had installed two ping-pong tables in my basement. I asked, was it a crime? No, he said, but why two? “Is that a crime?” I countered, and they all laughed.”
Kipling’s “Tommy” is usually cited as the source for the title of James Jones’ novel, but Jones also included as an epigraph this “OLD MIDDLEWESTERN SAYING” that I’ve never heard anyone use:
“There’s only a thin red line between the sane and the mad.”
Hi, Frank, I love _Pale Fire_ though have to admit that I'm still trying to fully figure it out. I actually think Nabokov shoulda won the Nobel for Literature. I love your line about The Thin Red Line--had never read that before. Malick's work is bemusing to many but to me it's gorgeous and courageous. We must connect ... Love, Mary
I’m not familiar with either of those, but was impressed by the 1000 lines of heroic couplets in Nabokov’s Pale Fire and was affected by Malick’s The Thin Red Line.
Pale Fire is also very funny:
“Another tormenter inquired if it was true that I had installed two ping-pong tables in my basement. I asked, was it a crime? No, he said, but why two? “Is that a crime?” I countered, and they all laughed.”
Kipling’s “Tommy” is usually cited as the source for the title of James Jones’ novel, but Jones also included as an epigraph this “OLD MIDDLEWESTERN SAYING” that I’ve never heard anyone use:
“There’s only a thin red line between the sane and the mad.”