Nabokov's Mangled Thoughts

 

Nabokov’s Invalids

When Vladimir Nabokov was lecturing on literature at Cornell University he dreaded reading the students’ answers to exam questions in the bluebooks, because he often discovered that his disciplined, structured thoughts and descriptions came back to him mangled and crippled.

Mangled invalids they were, leaning each on one crutch, hobbling back to their maker, smiling wistful, hopeful smiles: “No, please, don’t deny us, O master; we’ve been out in the harsh world of puerile minds, fighting your battles, struggling to be coherent, organized, profound. Now have pity on us; we’re bloodied but unbowed, and we’re still yours, so be magnanimous and merciful, take us back once more into your indulgent bosom.”

 From a student exam paper, Miami University, 1977: “In 1492 the Mongrels invaded Russia.”

 [excerpted from the book by U.R. Bowie, Here We Be. Where Be We?]