Fafajockling

  Influences In the Introduction to my version of The Iliad, Tolstoy is said to have claimed it as the highest achievement of storytelling. The analogies that run rampant through The Iliad are used in Tolstoy's style too... “Like a gambler who begins to win at cards, and instead of attributing this to the luck of his hands, instead believes he has discovered a winning method...” and so on. War and Peace is full of the Iliad . And For Whom the Bell Tolls is full of War and Peace . And sprigs of Vonnegut's style grow there too. Not only is Tolstoy a fan of “And so on,” he also sums up his book at the end with two pages of pure Vonnegut style: The tone is deadpan, every reason for the Napoleonic wars is a fallacy, and at the end there is a shrug about the inexplicable, arbitrary path of everything that has happened. Pierre is even a good reflection of Billy Pilgrim as he walks through battle scenes in his white suit, staring and seeming lost in thought, even developi...

  I never liked Nabokov, thought he was pompous and hyper-erudite. In this book he seems to have something to say! If you love Gogol, read this book. You will weep. If you love Nabokov, this book will make you love Gogol. And that is the proper thing to do, believe me. It has Nabokov's failings... at times the reader will wonder if Nabokov is going to stop describing the place he is writing from and get back to Gogol! But that's what you pay for with Nabokov, it has very amusing moments about it. It also sets out to wax humorously on Russian culture at length: but this is actually very useful for lovers of Russian literature who are not Russian. Truly great. Nabokov makes some questionable statements about who should like Gogol's work, some very elitist statements. But do not worry. Gogol is definitely for everybody. Read this book if you have enjoyed Gogol's work. But it would help to read most of Gogol first, and love it thoroughly if you want to be mo...