this is an incredible image, one that stays with you forever. it is almost as if barely imagined, dreamt of, as an image bursting into the consciousness, trying to break free of all chains...
"I was the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the windowpane; I was the smudge of ashen fluff--and I Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky."
Ah, you quote Pale Fire, the only one of N's books that might be better than Lolita -- I've loved it since I was, maybe, 17 or 18, a year when I evaded the tedium of high school by reading his books ravenously .... (and once I wrote a poem called "Notes for a Novel to be Titled False Azure," and the title was a secret for me, as no one guessed it referred to my love of N ....:-)
really?!!! and how come I haven't known this until now?!! :-)
i liked it very much, indeed, perhaps more than Lolita. but I read it late, compared to you, it is always better to discover books when one is young, and the enthusiasm is pure and devastating :-)
maybe two-three years ago, I think... this opening poem has stayed with me ever since, I'd like to find a reason why I love these lines very much, but it is hard to say... they are like a perfect, mysterious crystal.
this is an incredible image, one that stays with you forever. it is almost as if barely imagined, dreamt of, as an image bursting into the consciousness, trying to break free of all chains...
ReplyDelete"I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the windowpane;
I was the smudge of ashen fluff--and I
Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky."
Ah, you quote Pale Fire, the only one of N's books that might be better than Lolita -- I've loved it since I was, maybe, 17 or 18, a year when I evaded the tedium of high school by reading his books ravenously .... (and once I wrote a poem called "Notes for a Novel to be Titled False Azure," and the title was a secret for me, as no one guessed it referred to my love of N ....:-)
Deletereally?!!! and how come I haven't known this until now?!! :-)
ReplyDeletei liked it very much, indeed, perhaps more than Lolita. but I read it late, compared to you, it is always better to discover books when one is young, and the enthusiasm is pure and devastating :-)
maybe two-three years ago, I think... this opening poem has stayed with me ever since, I'd like to find a reason why I love these lines very much, but it is hard to say... they are like a perfect, mysterious crystal.