Zina Rohan's Blog, page 11

Still Nabokov

It's very clever what he does. Yes, he's recalling, in the sense of calling back, with effort, his Russian childhood and the many forays abroad with his family, in all the sensual detail he can muster: he pursues a figure, a passion (butterflies and moths) out of chronology, then returns to it. He remembers and remembers remembering, and remembering inventing, and inventing memory. There is much he cannot bring to mind, but in the writing of it then somehow does. All his senses are engaged. I wish I could do that - and with his acerbic yet not cold homour.

How long is a too long paragraph?

I've just heard from someone in a book group reporting that another member of that group, who are all to my joy reading my novel The Small Book, was dismayed by the length of the paragraphs in the first chapter - and by the density of the text. I've just looked at it again. I think the longest paragraph has 18 lines with around 11 words to a line. Is that off-puttingly dense? Opinions welcome.

Meanwhile, in Speak, Memory Nabokov's paragraphs are something else....as indeed is his writing. Dream on.

Back to Nabokov

I re-read Lolita recently, and was delighted how well - and in this case largely simply - Nabokov writes. I have found him an irritatig lnaguage braggart at times. Now I will look again at Speak Memory. Rpeort back soon.

Extra Work

For those of you who don't love in the UK, we have just had a budget that is going to hit the poorest in our society very hard. My part-time job is about to be cranked up. I foresee many of my clients losing their homes over this - and I will have to try and pick up the pieces. I will fail, I suspect.

Colm Toibin

I've had various exchanges with Goodreads members about whether or not people read with more than the plot and character in mind - do they or do they not think about why the author used a particular word when another might have been chosen, etc? Some only care about the story. Some care about how the book is written as well. One person was concerned that when an author becomes unduly interested in language you can end up with something overwritten, the style becomes an intrusive form of authorly self-aggrandizement.

Now I've just read Colm Toibin's colleciton of short stories, The Empty Family: Stories. As with Brooklyn or The Blackwater Lightship, Toibin writes so sparely that one is hardly aware of 'style' - except insofar as this IS his style.

What I hadn't noticed before is that he uses very little dialogue, and where he does, only occasionally more than a line...if that. Even his characters keep what they say to the minimum. Exemplary.

Different ways of writing

Just back from a day of work where I write tart letters to various authorities who abuse their power on behalf of people who have none. It keeps the hand in - and just occasionally bring results. Which is more than you can say for fiction...

Gasping for Air

Just as I thought I could settle down and read Colm Toibin's new volume of short stories, the latest edition of the New York Review of Books fell through the letter box. Dammit. I haven't done with the previous one yet - and I really ought to be reading for research not pleasure - even though research is pleasure too. But but but...

I heard him talking briefly on the radio today. What a gentle voice. As you'd expect

What a Sad World

I've just started reading the wonderful and greatly lamented Tony Judt's Ill Fares The Land.
That man was so thoughtful, so perspicacious, so honest, so homourous. And now, alas, he's so dead. In his gentle way in this last, short book that he dictated he rips apart the nonsense our Anglo-American societies have persuaded themselves is of value. Who else will do it?Ill Fares the Land

What to read what on

I read a lot of fiction on my Kindle. It was a present from my kids last Christmas - my son's suggestion. He canvassed opinion: will she hate it, someone as bookish as she is? Yes, they all said. So off he went and bought it anyway - and I love it. And now he wants one too.

But there is a but. I think it's not so good for non-fiction because you can't flip back and forth as you might wish to, consulting a map or a plate; and you can't make references for academic purposes because it doesn't show page numbers. Or at least I think you can't. If someone knows how to please tell me.

What to read what on

I read a lot of fiction on my Kindle. Everyone thought that someone as bookish as I am would hate it. It was a gift from my kids after my son had asked around to canvass opinion: will she hate it? Yes she will, they all said. So he bought it. And I love it. And now he wants one too.

But there is a but. I think it's not so good for non-fiction, or for anything where you might want to flick back and forth, turn to a map or a plate in another part of the book and then back to the text. And of course you don't get the page numbers, so if you were wanting to make academic reference to anything - well, you can't. If you can, someone please tell me how.