Some thoughts about Speak, Memory...

- The seminal event in Nabokov's adult life was the Russian Revolution. How would you describe the role of the Revolution in his life, and the structure of Speak, Memory?

- In chapter six (pg. 94-95 of the Everyman edition), he draws a parallel between nature and art:

When a butterfly has to look like a leaf, not only are all the details of a leaf beautifully rendered but markings mimicking grub-bored holes are generously thrown in. ‘Natural selection’ in the Darwinian sense, could not explain the miraculous coincidence of imitative aspect and imitative behavior, nor could one appeal to the theory of ‘the struggle of life’ when a protective device was carried to a point of mimetic sublety, exuberance, and luxury far in excess of a predator’s power of appreciation. I discovered in nature the nonutilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a game of intricate enchantment and deception.

Do you agree that art a game of enchantment and deception? What about nature?

- Though dedicated to his wife Vera, Speak, Memory seems to an appreciation and exoneration of his father Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. How does he represent his father? What about his mother and his brother Sergey?

- In Chapter 13 (pg. 205 in Everyman edition) , Nabokov sees an indirectly proportional relationship between someone's politics and their aesthetic taste:

All cultured and discriminating Russians knew that this astute politician had about as much taste and interest in aesthetic matters as an ordinary Russian bourgeois of the Flaubertian épicier sort,… but Nesbit and his highbrow friends saw in him a kind of sensitive, poetic-minded patron and promoter of the newest trends in art and would smile a superior smile when I tried to explain that the connexion between advance politics and advanced art was purely a verbal one (gleefully exploited by Soviet propaganda), and that the more radical a Russian was in politics, the more conservative he was on the artistic side.

Is this true or not true? The more radical someone's politics the more conservative their taste in art?

- What does anyone know about the writer Sirin which Nabokov notes as one of his favorite Russian émigré authors.

I found this old footage of Nabokov and Lionel Trilling on a 1950s TV show. Of course, they are discussing Lolita, but Nabokov's vicious wit is on display. Can you imagine this being on television today:



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We'll be meeting to discuss this book on March 11th at the Main Library in Conference Rm 3 at noon. Feel free to bring a lunch.

Reading Schedule for Summer 2009

Our reading schedule for summer 2009:

Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago - May 13th

Exiles by Ron Hansen - June 10th

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham - July 8th

2666 by Roberto Bolano - (first half) August 12th

2666 by Roberto Bolano - (second half) September 9th

We meet the 2nd Wednesday of every month at noon in Conference Room 3 of the Main Library downtown.

Our next book is Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov

One of twentieth century's master prose stylists tells his story as only he can. The late Vladimir Nabokov always did things his way, and his classic autobiography is no exception.

We'll be meeting to discuss this book on March 11th at the Main Library in Conference Rm 3 at noon. Feel free to bring a lunch.

Some thoughts about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle...

- Is Toru irresponsible? Are any of the bad things that happen to him his fault? At the very end (pg 605) he says, “I guess I just figured if I went on living in the usual way, things would kind of work themselves out all right. But they didn’t, did they? Unfortunately.”

- Is Toru justified in hating Noboru Wataya so much? Really, what did he ever do to him?

- How is this novel about Japan, its culture, its history?

- In many ways the what is factual and what is true in the book get confused. When Toru thinks this about Cinnamon’s stories (pg 525): “He inherited from his mother’s stories the fundamental style he used, unaltered, in his own stories: namely, the assuming that fact may not be truth, and truth may not be factual. The question of which parts of story were factual and which parts were not was probably not a very important one for Cinnamon. The important question for Cinnamon was not what his grandfather did but what his grandfather might have done. He learned the answer to this question as soon as he succeeded in telling the story.”

- The setting and landscape of the book slowly change very normal and suburban into a surreal dreamscape, where nearly all the action is taking place in dreams and all the characters seem to possess psychic powers. What is Murakami getting at? I am working on the assumption we are not supposed to take this literally alá a sci-fi adventure novel. Many things are left unexplained. What could be meaning of some of the plot elements:

~ The well?
~ The baseball bat?
~ Mr. Honda and empty whiskey bottle?
~ The blue mark that appears on his face?
~ The “thing inside” others Nutmeg and Toru can heal?
~ Cinnamon’s dream about the wind-up bird and, presumably, his father’s heart?
~ Who / what are Malta & Creta Kano?
~ Why is Creta concerned with water?

Let’s discuss these things!

Here's a link to reviews of all Murakami's books that have appeared in the New York Times .

Murakami always references music in his books. This has inspired many musical artists. Here's a link to the band Aeroplan's album they wrote based on The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle . You can download the whole thing for free. I'm not endorsing this music, I just think it is interesting that it exists.

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We'll be meeting to discuss this book on February 11th at the Main Library in Conference Rm 3 at noon. Feel free to bring a lunch.

We'll be voting for our summer reading list, so if you haven't voted already via email make sure you show up and vote in person. Cheers!

Our next book is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle bad things come in threes for Toru Okada. He loses his job, his cat, and his wife. His search for his wife and cat introduces him to a bizarre collection of characters in which mundane events throb with menace, while the bizarre is accepted without comment. An entrancing mystery by on of Japan's most acclaimed writers.

We'll be meeting to discuss this book on February 11th at the Main Library in Conference Rm 3 at noon. Feel free to bring a lunch

Ballot for Summer 2009 selections

2666 - Roberto Bolano

Amospheric Disturbances - Rivka Galchen

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House - Jon Meachum

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer - Kai Bird

The Black Swan: the Impact of the Highly Improbable - Nassim Taleb

Death with Interruptions - Jose Saramago

Exiles - Ron Hansen

The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters - Lorraine Lopez

Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

Shadow Country - Peter Matthieson

Email me your top four selections in order of preference before our meeting on Feb. 11th, OR make sure to come to the Feb. 11th meeting and vote with a paper ballot. In the event we elect to read both 2666 and Shadow Country, I will choose to save one for our fall selections so we don't have to read two very long fiction books back to back. (I'd love to read both these books, don't hesitate to vote for them.)

cheers,
Bryan

Some thoughts about Life is So Good...

When George & Richard browse the newspaper archive, George tears up because he realizes many of the stories in the newspaper are not true. Do newspapers tell the truth now?

George’s father tells him that “Everyman is born to die... so always do the right thing.” Is this good advice?

Though racial conditions are better in other places George travels to, he eventually always wants to go back home. What is the allure of home? Why would he want to go back when knew social conditions there were so unjust?

What gave George his stoic, if not positive, view of life? Why do you think he had such good health and such a good memory long into his life?

We'll be meeting to discuss this book on January 14th at the Main Library in Conference Rm 3 at noon. Feel free to bring a lunch.