Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Quotes of Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Ever since the days when such formidable mediocrities as Galsworthy, Dreiser, Tagore, Maxim Gorky, Romain Rolland and Thomas Mann were being accepted as geniuses, I have been perplexed and amused by fabricated notions about so-called "great books." That, for instance, Mann's asinine "Death in Venice," or Pasternak's melodramatic, vilely written "Dr. Zhivago," or Faulkner's corn-cobby chronicles can be considered "masterpieces" or at least what journalists term "great books," is to me the sort of absurd delusion as when a hypnotized person makes love to a chair. My greatest masterpieces of twentieth century prose are, in this order: Joyce's "Ulysses"; Kafka's "Transformation"; Bely's "St. Petersburg," and the first half of Proust's fairy tale, "In Search of Lost Time. book-quoteGrēks, kuru es senāk auklēju samudžinātās sirds stīgās, mon grand peche radieux, ir saplacis līdz savai būtībai: līdz neauglīgam un egoistiskam netikumam; un tieši to es svītroju laukā un nolādu. Jūs varat zoboties par mani un piedraudēt atbrīvot tiesas zāli, bet, kamēr man mutē neiebāzīs sprūdu un nenoslāpēs mani, es kliegtin kliegšu par savu nabaga taisnību. Briesmīgi vēlos, lai visa pasaule uzzinātu, cik ļoti es mīlu savu Lolitu, šo Lolitu, bālu un aptraipītu, ar svešu bērnu zem sirds, bet vēl arvien pelēkām acīm, arvien krāsotām skropstām, arvien vēl gaišmatainu un salkani smaidošu, arvien vēl Karmensitu, arvien vēl manu, manu… Changeons de vie, ma Carmen, allons vivre quelque part ou nous ne serons jamais separes. book-quote