Assignments 10/22 to 10/31 - these apply to everyone

due before class on 10/22:
Read "Aesthetic Bliss" and "The Dangers of Fiction."
Write about any of the three articles as a prelude to your research. In other words, when you write your term paper on Lolita and Speak, Memory, you will use criticism to set up your argument. In still more words, you will define how the book can be interpreted using these critics - who comment on the problems of interpretation. You will have to explain and justify your own approach. Try to write a first draft of this part of your essay - the part in which, using critics, you define your approach. In class on Tuesday I will demonstrate how to do this.

due before class on 10/24:
Nabokov's Anglophone poems are in the packet. Lolita - due to its self-conscious style and formal construction - may be interpreted in the manner of a poem rather than a novel. Nabokov also said that his poetry was a better link to Lolita than works of fiction like Bend Sinister. Read all the poems, but I have assigned one poem to each class member. The goal here is to interpret the poem as well as you can, but also to find Nabokovian themes and tendencies (and connections to Lolita) in the poems. Here are your poem assignments:
"A Literary Dinner" - Tene' and Nic
"The Refrigerator Awakes" - Tess and Eileen
"A Discovery" - Madeline
"The Poem" - Alex and Griffin
"An Evening of Russian Poetry" - Amy
"The Room" - Mary Linh
"Voluptates Tacionum" - Stella
"Restoration" - Juno and Josh
"The Poplar" - Emma
"Lines Written in Oregon" - Trey
"Ode to a Model" - Kayla
"The Ballad of Longwood Glen" - Andrea and Danielle
"Rain" - Shea

before class on 10/29
Option #1: If you are experienced with chess: Try to solve and comment on three of Nabokov's chess problems. Remember: chess problems are not meant to represent plausible situations that may arise in the playing of chess; they are absolutely "made up" situations. Also, remember: Nabokov was interested in the aesthetics of the problem - that is, the beauty of elegance of the situation and its solution. He considered chess problem composition an art. Your comments should attempt to connect Nabokov's approach to (and interest in) chess problems with his approach to fiction. If you study the chess problems, the create writing assignment is optional for you.

Option #2: The creative writing assignment: One of the problems of Lolita is that it is told completely through the voice of a madman. In spite of this subjective style which limits the reality of the events in the book, many readers respond to it as if it were a realistic novel. Writers such as A.M. Holmes have rewritten the notorious story from different points of view and in different styles. Take a key scene in Lolita and rewrite it - either altering the style (choose an omniscient, realistic voice) or the point of view (choose that of a female character such as Charlotte, Valeria, or Lolita - or even Mona Dahl - or a character such as Quilty or Maximovich). Post this revision on your blog - I will print out copies for the class, and we will discuss the composition as a whole group. The goal, ideally, is that your rewrite will shed light on the book itself - but we'll see how it goes.