kingsley amis

It is Friday: Go Right Ahead

At the table inquire, “Anyone not for beer?”

Throw yourself about, do imitations, maybe even fight a little

x drinks drunk in y moments are more potent than x drinks drunk in 2y moments

He resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again

At least a hangover is the truth

Put a broad hand on the beer-engine!

Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing

Have some bitter and go to the prom

Being drunk is one big ellipsis

Mayonnaise will remove stains

Some of Poe’s tales convey perfectly the idea of a hangover

I am a flashy dresser and I shout a lot!

I should stop, but it is OK to get drunk if a certain thing goes wrong. It has. So here I go

Author Spotlight & Random / 14 Comments
August 6th, 2010 / 3:55 pm

NABOKOV SMIRKING IN INTERVIEW (SORRY, KINGSLEY, I LOVE HIS TRICKS)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldpj_5JNFoA

Every now & then I watch this interview purely for entertainment value.  Nabokov.  My dad gave me one of his books when I was twelve or thirteen, I think, and shortly thereafter I had a dawning-of-comprehension moment, like, this guy [my dad] might actually be pretty smart/have good taste. Which, while not quite a Nabokovian epiphanic moment, actually is a revelation to an adolescent.

I’ve long had the impression that a lot of folks in the HTMLGiant/indie lit crowd don’t care for Nabokov* or at least orient more toward Bukowski/Burroughs/Kafka & what I think of as the “Grits” (i.e. writers whose lifestyles are associated with gritty shit and/or whose writing prioritizes visceral response over sublimity), but I pretty much consider it axiomatic that VN was a genius and maybe the most skilled manipulator of the English language who ever lived.  Also, nobody has ever been more successful at translating synesthesia into art.  (Btw, do you know what “Martian colors” are?  I call that as a title for a book.)
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Author Spotlight / 66 Comments
December 15th, 2009 / 1:28 pm