February Book Recommendation
The Department of English recommends the following book for your reading enjoyment in February:
Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov (1962)
2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of one of the most innovative and beautiful novels of the 20th century, Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. It begins with Charles Kinbote’s short “Foreword” to a 999-line poem by his colleague and neighbor, John Shade (both fictional characters, of course), then is followed by “Pale Fire,” the poem itself, a perfectly constructed and emotionally moving evocation of Shade’s personal and spiritual life. The main substance of the novel, though, is the “Commentary,” Kinbote’s copious notes to the poem, where we begin to find that Kinbote is not what he at first seems, and we are drawn into a wild, funny, and challenging array of fictional possibilities. Above all, what we experience in the novel is, as Nabokov’s biographer and best critic, Brian Boyd, says, “the magic of artistic discovery.”
Please join us in discussing this book on Tuesday, February 28, at 6 pm at J&B Coffee, 26th Street and Boston Avenue. Dr. John Samson will serve as moderator.
If you can't join us but would like to offer your comments on the book, please visit http://wb.engl.ttu.edu/~books. After logging in, choose the discussion for February, and post your comment.
Please also note upcoming recommendations:
March: Quickening, by Lisa Wieland
April: Horoscopes for the Dead, by Billy Collins
May: State of Minds, by Don Graham