HENB01144U English - Elective subject 3, topic 4: How to read Nabokov

Volume 2014/2015
Content

In this course we will deal with something which lies at the heart of our relation to literature, namely the act of reading. This might be thought obvious yet reading must be examined as an intellectual act, and few authors have had more interesting things to say on how their works should be read, or - the other way around - how they are not to be read, than the Russian émigré author, Vladimir Nabokov. His works are filled with authors, editors, college professors, and librarians. That is in short readers; people - in the words of the fictive editor of Pale Fire, Charles Kinbote - who are "passionately addicted to the study of literature." The focal point of the course will be Nabokov's novel Pale Fire, which arguably is a novel about (mis-)reading. We will examine Nabokov’s own practice and theory of reading in his Lectures on Literature, as well as in his monstrous edition of Aleksandr Pushkin's novel in verse, Eugene Onegin. Last, but not least we will study Lolita with special attention to its directives and ruses regarding the act of reading.

  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 42
  • Preparation
  • 162,75
  • Total
  • 204,75
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Other
Criteria for exam assesment