There are quite a few passages from this autobiography that jumped off the page for me, for one reason or another.
The one I find most humorous is Nabokov's anecdote in chapter 5 about his "wicked plan." (page 103)
"I explained to my brother a wicked plan and persuaded him to accept it...my brother declared he was cold and tired, but I urged him on and finally made him ride the dog (the only member of the party to be still enjoying himself)."
This is one of the few passages where I felt like Nabokov was a relatable person, and I appreciated this. It was surprisingly humorous and almost like a "break" from the rest of the narrative, which spends a large amount of time focusing on his thoughts and specific images rather than seemingly "normal" child behavior, like this passage shows. It's something you could expect of any little boy, and because up until this point I found him, yes, I'll say it....pretentious, it was like a breath of fresh air. A point for Nabokov!
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2 comments:
Oh, Erin! You make me laugh. LOVE the title of this post!
Ohh Erin you find such humorous lines..
My favorite was on page 157 when Nabokov is describing his activities with one of his tutors "When he deemed it fit to punish me for some slight misdemeanor (I remember, for instance, letting a child's marb;e fall from an upper landing upon his attractive hard-looking head as he walked downstairs), he would adopt the remarkable pedagogic measure of suggesting that he and I put on boxing gloves for a bit of sparing. He would then punch me in the face with stinging accuracy." I will admit I laughed out loud at this section...
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