Nature: Western Attitudes Since Ancient Times

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Every civilization has high ideals for personal and social conduct; every civilization regularly violates those ideals. So one might conclude after reading Peter Coates's wide-ranging study of environmental ethics in Western society, populated by Roman women who cry at the death of beloved pet birds and lap dogs after watching humans being tortured in the Coliseum, by 19th-century travelers who exalt the virtues of so-called primitive societies while participating in their destruction. All cultures are susceptible to the error of mistreating the land, Coates argues. Citing the work of recent historical geographers, for example, he believes that the North American landscape bore more signs of the human presence before 1492 than it did in the mid-1700s, largely as a result of destructive Native American farming practices. He also notes that Chief Seattle's famed speech ("How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?"), one of the classics of environmental thought, was in truth the invention of an Anglo screenwriter in the 1970s. While questioning the usefulness of the widely held, Western sense of shame over the sins of the past, Coates does reckon that we have a long way to go in aligning our ethics with our practices in this age of biotechnology and widespread extinction. "I am tempted," he writes, "to conclude that no matter what shape our tomatoes and frogs assume, the polarity of nature and culture will endure a good deal longer." --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In an advertisement for water filter cartridges, we see a tumbling waterfall. The caption reads, "Like nature, Brita is beautifully simple." What kind of thinking is this? Is nature an objective reality that, in its beautiful simplicity, is unaffected by time, culture, and place? The word nature itself: what do we actually mean by it? These are some of the riveting questions examined by Peter Coates as he demonstrates that nature, like us, has a history of its own. Beginning with Roman times, Coates investigates the ideological and material factors that have influenced human perceptions of, attitudes toward, and uses of nature--notably religion and ethics, science, technology, economics, gender, and ethnicity. Nature is seen among its rich panoply of meanings as a physical place, as the collective phenomena of the world, as an essence or principle that informs the workings of the world, as an inspiration and guide for people and a source of authority governing human affairs, and as the conceptual opposite of culture. By examining these aspects of nature, Coates leads us on a spectacular tour of the central intellectual forces of Western civilization. The book is essential reading for those who seek an understanding of the history of ideas and the role of nature in that history.

Customer Reviews:

Readable Synthesis, Fascinating Introduction.......2006-03-26

In Nature: Western Attitudes Since Ancient Times, historian Peter Coates aims to highlight the vast diversity of meanings that various Western cultures have ascribed to their relationships with nature. His book is a synthesis of existing work on historical attitudes and ideas, written for those with little previous knowledge of the subject. The underlying message is one of the fundamental presumptions of the study of thought and culture within the field of environmental history: the way people view nature changes over time.

Nature is, in part, an overview of the intellectual history of the Western world since the Greeks. Coates admits to a relatively limited definition of the West, using mostly British and American sources with brief forays into other regions of Europe. The first half of the book is organized by period, starting with ancient Greece and Rome and going on thorough early modernity. The second half, while still chronological, is organized thematically, exploring questions such as gauging the impact of European thought and action on other regions and the intellectual roots of modern-day conceptions of nature. Coates synthesizes a wide variety of secondary sources, utilizing both modern day historical and ecological studies as well as work from earlier disciplines that explored similar questions.

At the same time, the book is an argument in defense of the complexity of human-nature relationships. Coates subtly but frequently argues against interpreting the past as a series of great watershed moments bracketed by centuries of stasis. Rather, he advocates for understanding history as a dynamic process. The ways that people understand and define nature shift constantly, with existing practices inspiring new ideas and dialectically creating new practices. This is mirrored in Coates' historiography, which often highlights inconsistencies and disagreements among existing historical interpretations.

Coates' synthesis is both readable and nuanced. It is an excellent introduction to the thought and culture wing of environmental history, although it is unclear how representative the book is of anything broader than the United States and Great Britain. While I'm not sure the book truly lives up to the promises of its title, it was clearly necessary to limit the scope of the project in some way. Coates is very cautious about conflating similarities with influences, which occasionally leaves the reader wondering about how ideas are connected at all and making the book less like history and more like a textbook. But more often it helps emphasize how hard we must work to not take out cultural assumptions for granted when looking at the histories of others.

Because Coates seeks to elucidate questions rather than answer them, the book grazes over a number of topics and ideas that whet the historical appetite beginning student of environmental history. Coates articulates with clarity the "big questions" of environmental history while covering a lot of the specific research. Nature is a useful introduction to the many ways in which people in the West have understood the world and their place in it, as well as a compelling defense of the field which seeks to illuminate that history.

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Lichens of South Australia (Handbook of the flora and fauna of South Australia)
Rex B Filson
Manufacturer: Govt. Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0724355359

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Field trip 29: Mediterranean and arid zone lichens in south-eastern Australia, 11-20 August 1981
Rex B Filson
Manufacturer: National Herbarium of Victoria. Dept. of Crown Lands and Survey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007AV0FM

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Lichens of Rainforest in Tasmania and South-Eastern Australia (Flora of Australia)
G. Kantvilas , and S.J. Jarman
Manufacturer: CSIRO Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0642568022

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The Mosses of Norfolk Island (Flora of Australia Supplementary)
H. Streimann
Manufacturer: CSIRO Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0642568219

Book Description

The most visited city in Belgium after Brussels, Bruges attracts over a million tourists a year. Despite its popularity, Bruges remains a remarkable urban heirloom, with crooked streets, restored guildhouses and palaces and two of the most fascinating medieval art collections in Europe. Cadogan's new city guide reveals these historical charms, without overlooking the fine restaurants and stylish bars that keep Bruges buzzing with life. The guide explores the city's famously chic fashion stores and takes in the acclaimed WW1 battlefield tours. Whether visitors are looking for the old Bruges or the new, Cadogan uncovers all the attractions of Belgium's most intimate city. Also includes information on gateway cities Brussels and Ostend, making it practical for those that fly or drive.

Customer Reviews:

Good overview, but a couple of detail problems.......2000-06-02

This book gave an excellent overview of the history of Belgium and Bruges, and a nice overview of the main sites of the city. Furthermore, it's nice for someone only visiting Bruges that it only deals with that city. The small size makes it easy to shove in a pocket while touring.

Book Description

This ingenious city guide to Brussels & Bruges packages a concise full-color mini guide with a color fold out map. The mini guide contains the top 25 attractions; itineraries, walks, tours, and excursions; capsule reviews of key hotels, restaurants, shops, nightlife, and more; and concise travel facts about getting there and getting around. The full-size color foldout map comes complete with detailed city coverage; neighborhood blowups; public transport, hotels, points of interest, parks, and more. This convenient two-in-one travel resource is perfect for the on-the-go traveler who only needs the highlights of Brussels and Bruges.

Customer Reviews:

NOT SO IMPRESSED.......2003-05-22

My husband and I recently took a trip to Brussels, for the first time. We "thought" this book would be a great guide for us in a foreign country... but instead found ourselves getting lost. The map is huge, you'll need to find a coffee shop to actually sit and open the darn thing, and the sites aren't addressed clearly. A bit of advice, there are huge maps on the corners of most major streets that tell where you are and how to get to a site; use the undergrounds, much cheaper and easier to get around; and ask your hotel conceirge for directions, they know everything...oh, and make sure you brush up on your French, some village sandwich shops aren't as nice as your regular star bucks :)

A Great Day Trip.......2001-05-08

I bought this guide for a day trip into Brussels, during a recent European vacation. I found the guide to be extremely helpful in planning my one day visit. It focuses on the "Top Sites" to be visited in each city, and has plenty of interesting historical information, as well as practical information on hours of operation, and local transport. The shopping recommendations offered by the guide are also excellent. The only disappointing item about this guide was the one map, which is on very thin paper, and which was quite unwieldy. A better choice would be smaller maps scattered throughout the book. While I recommend this book for a day trip, it would not be suitable for a longer stay. I look forward to using this guide again when I visit Bruges in the future.

Customer Reviews:

Great photos and interesting info........2004-07-12

The book is short and simple, intended for grade schoolers, but the info is very interesting (for a tooth brush, chew up the end of a licorice root until it gets bristly and rub against teeth) and the photos are amazing (printed at half-page size so you can see them well - includes battle scenes). Even includes a recipe for hardtack crackers which the soldiers lived on. A great book to keep on hand for kids to look thru (and adults!).

Book Description

Balkan Biodiversity is the first attempt to synthesise our current understanding of biodiversity in the great European hot spot. The conservation of biodiversity is one of today’s great ecological challenges but Balkan biodiversity is still poorly understood, in a region with complex physical geography and a long history of political conflict. The Balkans exhibit outstanding levels of endemism, particularly in caves and ancient lakes such as Ohrid; lying at the crossroads of Europe and Asia they are also renowned as a focus of Pleistocene glacial refugia. This volume unites a diverse group of international researchers for the first time. Its interdisciplinary approach gives a broad perspective on biodiversity at the level of the gene, species and ecosystem, including contributions on temporal change. Biological groups include plants, mammals, spiders and humans, cave-dwelling organisms, fish, aquatic invertebrates and algae. The book should be read by zoologists, botanists, speleobiologists, palaeoecologists, palaeolimnologists and environmental scientists.

Book Description

Infectious disease accounts for more death and disability worldwide than either noninfectious disease or injury. This book contains a number of different quantitative approaches to understanding the patterns of such diseases in populations, and the design of control strategies to lessen their effect. The papers are written by experts with varied mathematical expertise and involvement in biological, medical and social sciences. The volume increases interaction between specialties by describing research on many infectious diseases that affect humans, including viral diseases, such as measles and AIDS, and tropical parasitic infections. Sections deal with problems relating to transmissible diseases with long development times (such as AIDS); vaccination strategies; the consequences of treatment interventions; the dynamics of immunity; heterogeneity of populations; and prediction. On each topic, the editors have chosen papers that bring together contrasting approaches via the development of theoretical results, the use of relevant knowledge from applied fields, and the analysis of data.

Models for Infectious Human Diseases: Their Structure and Relation to Data

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Models for Infectious Human Diseases: Their Structure and Relation to Data
Valerie Isham
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUYC98

Book Description

After a brilliant literary career in Russian, Vladimir Nabokov came to the United States and went on to an even more brilliant one in English--earning a place as one of the greatest writers of his adopted home. Between 1941 and 1974 he published the autobiography and eight novels now collected by The Library of America in an authoritative three-volume set. "The Real Life of Sebastian Knight" is a tantalizing literary mystery in which a writer's half brother searches to unravel the enigma of the famous novelist's life. "Bend Sinister," Nabokov's most explicitly political novel, is the haunting, dreamlike story of a quiet philosophy professor caught up in the bureaucratic terror of a totalitarian police state. "Speak, Memory" is the dazzling memoir of Nabokov's childhood in imperial Russia amd exile in Europe. The texts in this volume have been corrected based on the author's own copies. Two companion volumes collect "Lolita," "Pnin," "Pale Fire," and "Lolita: A Screenplay," and "Ada," "Transparent Things," and "Look at the Harlequins!"

Customer Reviews:

Real Nabokov.......2005-07-05

It's a sad fact that Vladimir Nabokov is still thought primarily as the guy who wrote a book about a middle-aged man's crush on a preteen girl. What that fails to note is that Nabokov, a Russian expatriate who spent many years in America, also wrote many other novels that were often even more groundbreaking than "Lolita."

Three of them were compiled into "Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951": the horrifying political satire "Bend Sinister," the entertainingly offbeat "Real Life of Sebastian Knight," and the unique memoir "Speak Memory." These three each demonstrate why Vladimir Nabokov was one of the best writers of the 20th century.

"Bend Sinister" is the most obviously political of all the novels Nabokov wrote.
It tells the story of Krug, a philosopher in the land of Padukgrad, who is dealing with the death of his wife, and having to raise his young son alone. To make things worse, an inept inventor's son named Paduk, has become the dictator. Worse, Krug is somehow in Paduk's way -- and Paduk will do anything to get Krug to endorse him. Literally, anything.

"The Real Life of Sebastian Knight" has a lighter tone than "Bend Sinister," with an unnamed narrator searching for clues about the true persona of his brother, Sebastian Knight, a famed writer. It ends up becoming a superb satire/detective story, looking at the faint traces that biographers snatch at, but which can only give a tiny look at the whole.

"Speak Memory" is an entirely different kind of book -- it's all about Nabokov himself. He reexamines his colorful life, but not so much through basic experiences and facts. Instead, he looks at how he made sense of the world, whether as a privileged child, a man torn up by the Russian Revolution, and finally finding sanctuary in another land.

It might come as a surprise that the famous "Lolita," which caused such a scandal at the time, is actually one of Nabokov's less complex books. He dabbled in metafiction, existentialism, autobiography, and almost always in satire. And there are almost always layers on layers of meaning in his books -- these aren't the exception.

His writing is dense, lush and detailed, and he seems almost to blur the line between fantasy and reality, especially since "Bend Sinister" takes little bits from various totalitarian governments. Even stranger, Krug apparently discovers that he is actually Nabokov's creation, and has an existential crisis. And Nabokov's self-examination is as fascinating as any bestselling novel, where he revisits those bizarre thoughts that we all have as children.

A harrowing political thriller, an amusing satire, and an intriguing autobiography make up "Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951." A writer like no other, and three books like no other.

Incredible writer doesn't deserve dirty old man rep.......2000-08-31

Picture Vladimir Nabokov. In the hall of mirrors that is popular culture, he is the dirty man who wrote the dirty book "Lolita," about a 12-year-old "nymphet" -- he invented the term, by the way -- and her affair with an older man.

Angle the mirror another way, and he is one of the founders of the modernist novel, which to some people -- myself included -- that's a damning phrase. "Modernist" and "post-modernist" literature seems a) self-referencing to the point of egotism; b) dedicated to the advancement of decedent themes, and to score big points as a writer, pile it on, brother; and c) obsessed with the discovery that the "arts" -- whether books, pictures or movies -- are artificial, and that we use them to create, well, books, pictures and movies.

Unless you think I am making it up, here's an example drawn from real life: a few years back, a Charlotte museum mounted an exhibition of a painter's work, one of which was a canvas whose front side was turned toward the wall, exposing a paint-stained frame. A newspaper reviewer breathlessly informed the reading public that the artist did this "to inform the viewer that most paintings are recetangular."

Now, a reasonably intelligent person could probably reach that conclusion without much effort, but discoveries like these seem to drive those who tread into the "modern" era of art.

So Vlaidmir Nabokov's reputation is caught between two very opposing poles. He either panders to the worst tastes of man, or the worst tastes of art.

Fortunately, he is neither, and the Library of America agrees. The non-profit publisher throws its reputation behind Nabokov as a writer worth reading by publishing all of his English-language novels in three volumes. The first volume covers his work from 1941 to 1951: "The Real Life of Sebastian Knight," "Bend Sinister," and his memoir, "Speak, Memory." The middle work contains the notorious "Lolita," "Pale Fire," "Pnin," and the "Lolita" screenplay Nabokov wrote for Stanley Kubrick. The concluding volume contains "Ada," "Transparent Things," and "Look at the Harlequins!"

But of these works, only "Lolita" stands alone. It is not a dirty book, and one should pity those American and British tourists who, in the mid-1950s, bought the pale olive-green two-volume paperbacks published in Paris by the notorious Olympia Press. Those expecting frankly pornographic stories like "The Story of O" and "How to Do It" would have been sorely disappointed in Humbert Humbert's self-confessed defense of his rape (not "seduction," which implies a willingness to be seduced) and exploitation of Delores Haze, "Lolita, light of my life,fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."

Even Olympia's publisher was taken in, telling a mutual friend that he though Nabokov was Humbert, and that he was attempting to popularize nymphet love.

What does become apparent after reading through the volumes (and aided by an excellent two-volume biography by Brian Boyd) is that there is much more to Nabokov than meets the eye. Delving deeper in his works reveals a funhouse hall of mirrors that can lead to a definitive end, and there's not much in modernist fiction that could substantiate that claim.

What sets Nabokov off from other writers is his use of the language. Raised in Tsarist Russia, Nabokov was a child prodigy who was taught Russian, French and English at an early age. His prose is elegent, his command of English astounding. It's close to the prose of Henry James, but except for the foreign phrases, which the Library editions provide translations and explanations, far more understandable.

Descriptions pulled at random from "Lolita" ring as if English was a newly minted language, capable of expressing humor ("The bed was a frightful mess with overtones of potato chips") and snobbish anger ("Lo had grabbed some comics from the back seat and, mobile white-bloused, one brown elbow out of the window, was deep in the current adventure of some clout or clown").

Even, when Humbert meets his Lolita long after she escaped his clutches, when he believes that he still loves her, heart-rending: "In her washed-out grey eyes, strangely spectacled, our poor romance was for a moment reflected, pondered upon, and dismissed like a dull party, like a rainy picnic to which only the dullest bores had come, like a humdrum exercise, like a bit of dry mud caking her childhood."

This is not casual reading, but neither is it reading-as-masochistic exercise, with furrowed brows and an exasperated flipping of once-read pages. There is a surface meaning that is easily accessible, but there are deeper meanings, in-jokes, ironies and moral questions worthy of consideration.

The best volume of the three is the second, which contains "Lolita," the screenplay he wrote for Stanley Kubrick (which was not used), the comic novel (for Nabokov at least) "Pnin" and "Pale Fire."

But good works can be found in the other volumes as well. "The Real Life of Sebastian Knight," in the first volume, is the author's account of his biographical research on his half-brother, the brilliant writer Sebastian Knight, who had died recently of a heart condition after writing a half-dozen novels. It bears all the hallmarks of the post-modernist novel replete with a self-absorption with writers, spurious biography, an unreliable narrator and ironical references. "Speak, Memory," also in the first volume, is Nabokov's memoirs about growing up in Russia.

Indeed, the only disadvantage to reading Nabokov is that it may cause a nagging niggling in the back of your head, while reading novels in the future, that they just cannot compare to those composed by the American from Russia.

Nabokov!.......2000-04-20

This collection of novels and a memoir is a must for anyone interested in twentieth century literature. Nabokov is a giant, a superstar, a Freud-bashing genius--order now!

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Consistently entertaining
My Brother, Myself
Good lesser Vladimir
Caress the details, for there is nothing else!
no batterflies please

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Vladimir Nabokov
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0679727264
Release Date: 1992-02-04

Amazon.com

"I am very happy that you liked that little book," wrote Vladimir Nabokov to Edmund Wilson in 1941. "As I think I told you, I wrote it five years ago, in Paris, on the implement called bidet as a writing desk--because we lived in one room and I had to use our small bathroom as a study." The book in question was The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. And despite its humble origins, Nabokov's first novel in English showed him to be in absolute command of his adopted language.

Like many of the author's later triumphs, this one revolves around a question of identity. The late Sebastian Knight, we discover, was a transplanted Russian novelist whose taste for linguistic trickery bears a certain resemblance to Nabokov's. Now his half-brother is attempting to reconstruct the existence of this elusive figure. As he readily admits, the raw material isn't exactly the stuff of melodrama: "Sebastian's life, though far from being dull, lacked the terrific vigour of his literary style." But even the most mundane facts prove difficult for the narrator to nail down. He does, on the other hand, describe Sebastian's creative processes in exquisite and accurate detail:

His struggle with words was usually painful and this for two reasons. One was the common one with writers of his type: the bridging of the abyss lying between expression and thought; the maddening feeling that the right words, the only words are awaiting you on the opposite bank in the misty distance, and the shudderings of the still unclothed thought clamouring for them on this side of the abyss.

Sebastian's real life--or anybody's, for that matter--refuses to yield up a verbal equivalent. Still, the narrator manages a kind of fraternal fusion with his subject on the book's final page, which suggests a fluid and very Nabokovian view of identity itself. For this reason, and for the splendors of its prose, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is a necessary read. It's also safe to say that it's the very best novel ever written on a bidet. --James Marcus

Book Description

"Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically." -- John Updike

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is a perversely magical literary detective story -- subtle, intricate, leading to a tantalizing climax -- about the mysterious life of a famous writer. Many people knew things about Sebastian Knight as a distinguished novelist, but probably fewer than a dozen knew of the two love affairs that so profoundly influenced his career, the second one in such a disastrous way. After Knight's death, his half brother sets out to penetrate the enigma of his life, starting with a few scanty clues in the novelist's private papers. His search proves to be a story as intriguing as any of his subject's own novels, as baffling, and, in the end, as uniquely rewarding.

Customer Reviews:

Consistently entertaining .......2007-09-03

Once I had closely re-read the first 10-20 pages to better absorb the personal histories, which I found confusing at first read, I was well-fortified to enjoy the rest of the book. The writing is fabulous and I liked the mystery motif. There were very few slow spots and plenty of humor and seeming insight, yet the book had only a superficial effect on me. I left not really feeling I understood Sebastian or his half-brother (Knight's biographical researcher) very well at all -- and not particularly caring either, because it was so pleasant to read and I'm not sure that it was the author's intention to make us really care about the characters. While there is deep philosophy discussed, the book had a lightweight feel. Maybe that was the intent of the book -- to make the point that people (the half-brother biographer and the famous brother) are ultimately indescribable no matter how much you describe them and their acts. Or maybe it was just a display of great writing that was intended to transcend the content, a virtuoso display. In a certain way it reminded me of the previous book I read, This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald, in that each is the story about a purportedly brilliant young author (Fitzgerald himself, and the fictional Sebastian Knight). But Fitzgerald's book, while sophomoric and at times silly in the beginning, ultimately became quite serious and almost sublime -- plus we know what actually happened to talented Fitzgerald, adding another layer of poignancy. Nabokov's book also reminded me of some of the Nouveau Roman authors of the 1950's-1960's where all of the detail is just an intellectual game, not intended for serious reader involvement. Nevertheless, I will definitely read more of Nabokov. This was I believe his first book in English and I figured I would start there.

My Brother, Myself.......2005-08-01

This exquisitely written novel fills one with despair. It is a sadness that was perhaps felt by many after such rare and creative geniuses as Mozart, Van Gogh, Shubert, and Gershwin all died too young after such short careers. Some of these men, like Sebastian Knight, died in relative obscurity. Sebastian's half-brother, the narrator of this novel, enters upon a journey to uncover the last months of Sebastian's life, to discover his secret, and perhaps to find out about the shadowy woman who was supposedly his last lover.

Sebastian's handful of books were admired by some of the critics, who found them scholarly and poetic, and his last novel was judged a masterpiece. Most of Sebastian's books were little read by a public who were probably more inclined to read the popular potboilers of the day. The half-brother, while loving and admiring Sebastian, barely knew him himself, only knowing that Sebastian lead a lonely, sad existence, and that he suffered from a congenital heart condition. What lends much of the novel its sadness is the palpable desperation of the narrator's quest. While his efforts in uncovering his brother's secret may have been less than successful, he did learn much about what Nabokov calls our common shared humanity with the souls of others. This is a beautifully written and heartfelt narrative that should be read by those who appreciate great literature.

Good lesser Vladimir.......2003-01-08

Vladimir Nabokov is perhaps my very favorite author, and so I approached this work withthe mindset of "it must be at least good." It is. It contains the subtlety and puzzling qualities and droll humor of his great works and still manages to work in its own little bit of beauty. It also has its duller stretches, it lacks a real point, and it is more than vaguely pretentious, but nothing unforgivable. As his first full-length work in English, perhaps it should be treated more as an experiment in compositional workability than anything else.
The relative ease of reading this as compared to Nabokov's best, like 'Pale Fire' and 'Lolita,' may make it a good introduction to novices.

Caress the details, for there is nothing else!.......2001-12-23

My English not being my mother language has attracted me to Nabokov. And I admire him enourmously.But this novel was almost a disappointment, because, though it is so good at times, the almost plotless tale reaches a climax of the futile and bore when (we are already somewhere in the middle of the book)he narrator, who is by then in search of a lady, indulges in a series of inane dialogues whose aim eluded me. And the eighteenth chapter is wonderful, though I disliked also the final chapters, this simulacrum of impetus and parody of revelation on the very point of dying.

no batterflies please.......2001-07-06

Nabokov intension, until he discovered for himself the wonderful world of pop-culture (cf. Lolita and Ada), was really to describe truth and beauty (see 'Luzhin's defense', 'Gift' etc.) in the tradition of the Old World, and play less with cheep riddles and collective phobias. His dealing with the issue of death, as in 'Ultima Thule' etc., appears also here; the last book written by Knight is, however, written about in a pale and uninspiring way (Nabokov could not make his vision clear?), and, surprisingly for Nabokov, is not free of commonplaces and dejavous. All in all the book is original and interesting, as nearly everything Nabokov wrote. And, by the way, the treatment of the relation narrator-genius (commonplace in itself, unfortunately) looks better than in Mann's Doctor Faustus, where it is taken quite heavily (one does not see the traces of the hammer blows).

Side remark: the stars practice is really annoying: isn't there a way to write about books without grading them?

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GradeSaver(tm) ClassicNotes The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
China Millman
Manufacturer: GradeSaver, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1602590834
Release Date: 2007-05-23

Book Description

GradeSaver(TM) ClassicNotes are the most comprehensive study guides on the market, written by Harvard students for students! Longer, with more detailed summary and analysis sections and sample essays, ClassicNotes are the best choice for advanced students and educators. Each note includes: * An author biography * An in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary * A short summary * A character list and related descriptions * A list of themes * A glossary * Historical context * Two academic essays * 100 quiz questions to improve test taking skills!

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The Real Life if Sebastian Knight
Vladimir Nabokov
Manufacturer: New Direction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Vladimir NABOKOV
Manufacturer: New Directions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Vladimir Nabokov
Manufacturer: Editions Poetry London
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Novels & Memoirs, 1941-1951 : The Real Life of Sebastian Knight; Bend Sinister; Speak, Memory (Library of America)

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Novels & Memoirs, 1941-1951 : The Real Life of Sebastian Knight; Bend Sinister; Speak, Memory (Library of America)
Vladimir; Boyd, Brian (editor) Nabokov
Manufacturer: Library of America, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KP3VRY

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THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT

Manufacturer: New Directions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Vladimir Nabokov
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
Vladimir Nabokov
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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