Nabokov's Book 'A Sham, a Scam'
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.AUTHOR: William Deresiewicz in The New Republic
SUBJECT: The recently-released last work of Russian author Vladimir Nabokov
LENGTH: 5953 dyspeptic words
THESIS: "The whole thing is a red herring, and a very fishy one at that"
IRRITABLE BOOK DESIGN ELEMENTS: "Mock perforations in snazzy red, typographical hijinks, little doodads strewn about," an author photo that shows off Nabokov's babyish, "buxom set of jowls," translucent words on the cover
NUMBER OF PARAGRAPHS DEVOTED TO IRRITATING DESIGN: 4
EFFORT SPENT DEBUNKING IDEA THAT NABOKOV INTENDED TO MAKE A BOOK OF NOTECARDS: Too tremendous and impressive to recap here
THE FINAL WORD:
The only Nabokov code this manuscript will ever yield--is amusing and curious but nothing more. Nabokov glutted us on his genius. We shouldn't nose around his table scraps for fodder that they cannot provide.
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