Changing My Mind_ Occasional Essays Part 10

As Kafka's The Trial The Trial plumbs that ancient buildup of cultural residue that is called "Jewishness." plumbs that ancient buildup of cultural residue that is called "Jewishness."

12.

Down on the muck, Janie and Tea Cake befriend the "Saws," workers from the Caribbean.

13.

Until they read books featuring nonwhite characters. I once overheard a young white man at a book festival say to his friend, "Have you read the new Kureishi? Same old thing-loads of Indian people." To which you want to reply, "Have you read the new Franzen? Same old thing-loads of white people."

14.

At its most common and ba.n.a.l: catching a beat, following a rhythm.

15.

In the Oxford English Dictionary: Oxford English Dictionary: " "Schmaltz n. informal. excessive sentimentality, esp. in music or movies. ORIGIN 1930s: from Yiddish schmaltz schmaltz, from German Schmalz Schmalz 'dripping, lard.' " 'dripping, lard.' "

16.

Is there anything less soulful than attempting to define soulfulness?

17.

In literary terms, we know that there is a tipping point at which the cultural particular-while becoming no less culturally particular-is accepted by readers as the neutral universal. The previously "Jewish fiction" of Philip Roth is now "fiction." We have moved from the particular complaints of Portnoy to the universal claims of Everyman.

18.

The book in question is The BBC Talks of E. M. Forster, 1929-1960 The BBC Talks of E. M. Forster, 1929-1960, University of Missouri Press.

19.

He refers to the narrative version by Goldsworthy Lowes d.i.c.kinson.

20.

The book recommended is The Social Substance of Religion The Social Substance of Religion by Gerald Heard. by Gerald Heard.

21.

Next to the phrase "into her dream he melted" was written "You mean he f.u.c.ked her, do you?"

22.

The other panelists: Desmond MacCarthy, Rose Macaulay, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh and Philip Toynbee.

23.

"I don't belong to any club or group. I don't fish, cook, dance, endorse books, sign books, co-sign declarations, eat oysters, get drunk, go to church, go to a.n.a.lysts, or take part in demonstrations."

24.

His translated poetry reader of 1944, Three Russian Poets: Selections from Pushkin, Lermontov and Tyutchev Three Russian Poets: Selections from Pushkin, Lermontov and Tyutchev, takes care to include three sparklingly written mini-biographies of the poets.

25.

Another way of thinking about the distinction might be: there is a style that believes writing should mimic the quick pace, the ease, and the fluidity of reading (or even of speech). And then there is a style that believes reading should mimic the obstruction and slow struggle of writing. Raymond Carver would be on that first axis. Nabokov is way out way out on the second. Joyce is even further. on the second. Joyce is even further.

26.

These were originally conceived as lectures for Nabokov's Cornell undergraduates on the Masters of European Fiction. They were collected and published after his death.

27.

Properly poshlost poshlost, from the Russian for vulgarity. Nabokov's definition: "Not only the obviously trashy but mainly the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive."

28.

Nabokov nerds often slavishly parrot his strong opinions. I don't think I'm the first person to have my mind poisoned, by Nabokov, against Dostoyevsky.

29.

"In many ways writing is the act of saying I, I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. It's an aggressive, even a hostile act. You can disguise its aggressiveness all you want with veils of subordinate clauses and qualifiers and tentative subjunctives, with ellipses and evasions-with the whole manner of intimating rather than claiming, of alluding rather than stating-but there's no getting around the fact that setting words on paper is the tactic of a secret bully, an invasion, an imposition of the writer's sensibility on the reader's most private s.p.a.ce."-Joan Didion

30.

Vera, his wife and "first and best reader" being a close second.

31.