VN COLLATION #17
by Suellen Stringer-Hye
Jean and Alexander Heard Library
Vanderbilt University
stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu

I am hoping to put together a Fall VN Collation, but in the meantime, here is an item from the September 8, 1996 New York Times, p. 64, title, "Breaking New Ground, But the Roots Hold Fast." Bobby Ann Mason, novelist and author of Nabokov's Garden: A Guide to Ada, wrote the article which profiles the Athens, GA based band REM. Excerpts from an exchange between band member Michael Stipe and herself appear below:

"...For a period I was immersed in Nabokov--Transparent Things, Lolita, Ada."
"My favorite writer," I say.
"What he writes seems to come from the heart but his method seems very mathematic."
"He's tricking you."
"It's surface? Good!" Michael laughs. "I want to go back to him."

Further dialogue between the two reveals that Michael, after thinking they were too aloof, is learning to like cats better. Mason:

"No, I argue..Cat's--like Nabokov--are masters of deception. I'm bowled over to find someone who has read Ada. I know only about six people who have had the patience to read it. I want to pursue the topic but there isn't time."