Jul 10, 2023·edited Jul 10, 2023Liked by Nathan Slake
that nabakov novel is astounding
outstanding
too bad it (perhaps) suffers from the prurience attached to title but like styron i figure with sophies choice he was "in the zone" when he gave birth to that motherfucker
As soon as I read the words ‘Toby jug’ my stomach flipped. As every child knows, they are haunted objects. I’d buried all memories of trying not to make eye contact with them whenever I’d been inside an old English pub, but they’ve since come rushing back. Adding that to the long list of things to discuss with my therapist this week...
Oh, I kid, I kid. They were definitely traumatizing as a child, but I can handle the reminder of them now - though I do still find myself involuntarily grimacing when I see one!
I find the collecting of such things deeply, deeply questionable...
Thank you for sharing your wonderful imagination, it’s always a pleasure 😌
I have never heard of a Toby jug before, so thank you for including that picture, although also why did you include that picture, because they are AWFUL and I now can't unsee it. No wonder they evoked this horror tale!! I have never read Nabokov, but it was clear you were adopting a Style, and it made this a fun read.
This was very good! I also don’t like florid writing but this is not florid. It’s a language feast, evocative writing, a style that I still love. I loved Lolita by Nabokov, I loved Atonement by Ian McEwan, I loved 451 Fahrenheit by Ray Bradbury and countless other books by authors who use language in such a masterful way, perhaps it’s my poetry background, I don’t know, but for me this is real writing. Your very own style goes in this direction, that’s why I was instantly captivated by Brae’s Meteorite.
Thanks so much Claudia, it's unlikely that I would have read Nabokov were it not for that exchange and discussion elicited by Terry's original comment about Lolita.
A language feast is such a great term!
I haven't read Atonement (love the film, though!)
I like to think that we're all uniquely influenced by the writers we've read, who in turn were influence by the writers they read. One continuous line of inspiration that is a unique blend for each individual.
I haven’t watched Atonement the film yet but I read the book because I saw some sequences of the film on YouTube and loved listening to the score for a while. After I read the book I was hesitant to watch the movie because it ends so sadly and I love James McAvoy and I don’t want to see him heartbroken. Am I being silly?
I like the image of the generations of writers influencing each other. It’s like passing on a craft through reading and writing, people being influenced by and learning from other people they have never met in person and yet know them intimately through their writing.
I think it's an incredible film. But it will tug at those heartstrings for sure. Sounds like you're well prepared, though. Plus, there may be some slight differences to the book ... (it's been a while and I honestly can't quite remember the closing sequences).
I'm sorry Nathan. I read about halfway, than I bailed for the comments! I thought, who writes like this! When you mentioned Terry's comments about Nabokov, it made sense. The style transports you back into some time, when folks thought, wrote like this. The story was great, and with this style, yes! A great read. I'll now be wary of smiling jars!
OMG funny. My mother-in-law has a cabinet of various knick-knack things that also include an assortment of Toby Jugs. Last time we visited she told each of our kids that they could pick something from the cabinet to have "to remember Grannie". To the kid, they all distinctly avoided the Toby Jugs and even talked later about how creepy they were. I have to say I agree and it sounds like you might too. 😁
Oh, I don't know - I love a good grotesque, and Toby jugs are each and every one the stuff of nightmares. Have not read Nabokov, though I have downloaded it on my Kindle, that counts, right? I love the purpleness of all of this, well done Nathan! It really captures the fizzing adventure of childhood...
The "purpleness of all of this" I love that. Thank you.
That counts, for sure. I also had a sample downloaded on my Kindle for a long time, but thankfully I recently touched (!) and opened the book and immediately proceeded to a full purchase.
Here, have a random snippet from later in the book:
"I had no intention of doing so, since, as I have once remarked in the course of these confessions, there are few physiques I loathed more than the heavy low-slung pelvis, thick calves and deplorable complexion of the average co-ed (in whom I see, maybe, the coffin of coarse female flesh within which my nymphets are buried alive)."
What a strange and wonderful story! The strangeness makes it good - it's still humanly simple in other ways. And I can see how Lolita might juxtapose nicely with this. Another strange yet simply human story.
Those jugs are terrifying. It's also the way you talk about spaces - the door etc - opening and changing shape as the protagonist moves through it that creates a kind of moving rhythm. Thanks for sharing another great piece with us!
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, Kate. The moving rhythm was one of the main things I wanted to try and accomplish here. The story ("story"? 😅) sort of self-evolved as I was trying to do so.
Excellent piece, Nathan. I love it when writers push themselves out of their comfort zones and try new things. So very well done, bravo. While I initially made an R.L. Stine comment about that door ajar sentence, I did get more of an H.P. Lovecraft vibe here and there. Stine still fits the haunted objects trope but not the prose. Can't comment about any Nabokov similarities, been too long since I read Lolita, Lo-lee-ta, I remember the opening, though.
I've highlighted oh-so-many phrases from my read through, so if (most likely, when) I make a comment about the book (perhaps a Morsel) then I'll include some of his especially brilliant passages.
Lovecraft certainly runs through my brain plenty, so that vibe makes sense.
Sad to say I haven't read an R. L. Stine. Open to recommendations.
I wrote to my mum in a blog post once on my photography website. At the end of the post I wrote "...and if you've made it this far, thanks for reading my blog, mum".
I don't usually like florid writing but I thought this sentence in particular was amazing: "an age from which rafts of memory float muddied by time".
I was impressed by the inclusion of French.
The word that puzzles me is " corpulence ", which I didn't think was relevant but maybe that was the point.
Funnily enough I am intending to read a Nabokov short story over the weekend.
When I was a toddler I was terrified of the vacuum cleaner because I thought it might suck me up! My mum cured it by letting me have a go at using it, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Now not so much 😱
I hope you will " try on" other styles, Nathan. Hemingway perhaps? Virginia Woolf? 😃
I, too, am not especially fond of such writing but Nabokov really captured me. And, I have you to thank ;) This goes way back, but you posted about Nabokov in a tiny review and that prompted some discussion. I think Claudia and Shaina mentioned how good Lolita was and so I added it to my list and have only recently gotten to the book.
Will be keen to hear your thoughts from the short story (which one is it?)
Our cat has similar sentiments about the vacuum cleaner. Sadly, I've never managed to teach her to use it.
Perhaps you need to buy one of those robot vacuum cleaners and put a favourite cushion on top, so she can learn to ride it and thereby master her fear?
😂 re cat. I will select a story from a collection called A Russian Beauty and Other Stories. One I recommend, not in that collection, is Springtime in Fialta.
I have never read Nabokov, so I can’t comment on how close you came to imitating his style. What I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! The prose had a rhythm and flow that felt like being carried along by a swiftly moving brook once I got into it. The more complicated sentence structure and flowery grammar gave me a mental challenge as a reader that made me perk up and want to engage, like I was being invited to “step up” and see if I could handle it, and I was rewarded by both an evocative story and the satisfaction of making it to the end. Not an easy style to write in, well done!
Thank you so much Renee, that truly means a lot to hear. That is the *exact* sensation I've had whilst reading Nabokov, so I'm so very happy if you felt that here. Having to "step up" when reading through his long (yet elegant) sentences is a simultaneous challenge and joy. Even though the subject matter of Lolita is disturbing (especially given it is all from Humbert Humbert's point of view), I highly recommend the book.
Loved the horror of this piece and the style, whether it comes close to Nabokov or not (I really need to read something by him). A little French undoubtedly adds a certain je ne sais quoi. Also, all right-minded people should be terrified of Toby jugs.
I think you would most enjoy Nabokov's style. He is quite brilliant and so very different. You would be able to more readily translate his slips into French, too.
that nabakov novel is astounding
outstanding
too bad it (perhaps) suffers from the prurience attached to title but like styron i figure with sophies choice he was "in the zone" when he gave birth to that motherfucker
always enjoy reading you
Thanks Appleton. I think he certainly was in the zone and he somehow sustained it for over 300 pages!
I've not actually read Sophie's Choice, will have to give it a look.
Wonderful, wonderful... so very Nabakov-esque!
As soon as I read the words ‘Toby jug’ my stomach flipped. As every child knows, they are haunted objects. I’d buried all memories of trying not to make eye contact with them whenever I’d been inside an old English pub, but they’ve since come rushing back. Adding that to the long list of things to discuss with my therapist this week...
Beautiful work, Nathan!
Why thank you 😊
Not sure if serious or joking ... So:
If serious: oh no, sorry Chloe, I didn't mean to add to the list via these horrible haunted objects.
If joking: heh, yeah, who would ever want one of these?! Why are they collectibles? Why would a pub have one? I'm hope you stopped visiting said pub.
Haunted objects. I love that phrase and all it conjures.
Thanks as always for reading, Chloe. Means a lot.
Oh, I kid, I kid. They were definitely traumatizing as a child, but I can handle the reminder of them now - though I do still find myself involuntarily grimacing when I see one!
I find the collecting of such things deeply, deeply questionable...
Thank you for sharing your wonderful imagination, it’s always a pleasure 😌
😉
Absolutely questionable.
I have never heard of a Toby jug before, so thank you for including that picture, although also why did you include that picture, because they are AWFUL and I now can't unsee it. No wonder they evoked this horror tale!! I have never read Nabokov, but it was clear you were adopting a Style, and it made this a fun read.
Haha sorry. Nasty things, eh? Why anyone would actually collect them is beyond me.
They definitely come alive at night and terrorize your pets.
Yeah, our cat would shun them for sure!
This was very good! I also don’t like florid writing but this is not florid. It’s a language feast, evocative writing, a style that I still love. I loved Lolita by Nabokov, I loved Atonement by Ian McEwan, I loved 451 Fahrenheit by Ray Bradbury and countless other books by authors who use language in such a masterful way, perhaps it’s my poetry background, I don’t know, but for me this is real writing. Your very own style goes in this direction, that’s why I was instantly captivated by Brae’s Meteorite.
Thanks so much Claudia, it's unlikely that I would have read Nabokov were it not for that exchange and discussion elicited by Terry's original comment about Lolita.
A language feast is such a great term!
I haven't read Atonement (love the film, though!)
I like to think that we're all uniquely influenced by the writers we've read, who in turn were influence by the writers they read. One continuous line of inspiration that is a unique blend for each individual.
I haven’t watched Atonement the film yet but I read the book because I saw some sequences of the film on YouTube and loved listening to the score for a while. After I read the book I was hesitant to watch the movie because it ends so sadly and I love James McAvoy and I don’t want to see him heartbroken. Am I being silly?
I like the image of the generations of writers influencing each other. It’s like passing on a craft through reading and writing, people being influenced by and learning from other people they have never met in person and yet know them intimately through their writing.
I think it's an incredible film. But it will tug at those heartstrings for sure. Sounds like you're well prepared, though. Plus, there may be some slight differences to the book ... (it's been a while and I honestly can't quite remember the closing sequences).
Loved it!!! A feast of aesthetic description! It did seem to end abruptly.
Thanks Kelly, glad you enjoyed the feast ;)
Yeah, a tad abrupt, eh. I was wary that it was getting too long. Maybe one day I'll return to it and extend it into something fuller.
I'm sorry Nathan. I read about halfway, than I bailed for the comments! I thought, who writes like this! When you mentioned Terry's comments about Nabokov, it made sense. The style transports you back into some time, when folks thought, wrote like this. The story was great, and with this style, yes! A great read. I'll now be wary of smiling jars!
Hehe, well at least you opted for the comments first. I think some just straight up bailed (and unsubscribed)!
Thanks for then backtracking and completing the read, appreciate it, and the comment :)
Wickedly familiar rhythms and tones...loved it!
Thanks Sana, so glad you enjoyed!
OMG funny. My mother-in-law has a cabinet of various knick-knack things that also include an assortment of Toby Jugs. Last time we visited she told each of our kids that they could pick something from the cabinet to have "to remember Grannie". To the kid, they all distinctly avoided the Toby Jugs and even talked later about how creepy they were. I have to say I agree and it sounds like you might too. 😁
Hah, wow, how funny. Universally hated. Perhaps it's a generational thing. I have no idea why my grandmother owned so many.
Thanks for reading, Dan!
Oh, I don't know - I love a good grotesque, and Toby jugs are each and every one the stuff of nightmares. Have not read Nabokov, though I have downloaded it on my Kindle, that counts, right? I love the purpleness of all of this, well done Nathan! It really captures the fizzing adventure of childhood...
The "purpleness of all of this" I love that. Thank you.
That counts, for sure. I also had a sample downloaded on my Kindle for a long time, but thankfully I recently touched (!) and opened the book and immediately proceeded to a full purchase.
Here, have a random snippet from later in the book:
"I had no intention of doing so, since, as I have once remarked in the course of these confessions, there are few physiques I loathed more than the heavy low-slung pelvis, thick calves and deplorable complexion of the average co-ed (in whom I see, maybe, the coffin of coarse female flesh within which my nymphets are buried alive)."
What a strange and wonderful story! The strangeness makes it good - it's still humanly simple in other ways. And I can see how Lolita might juxtapose nicely with this. Another strange yet simply human story.
Those jugs are terrifying. It's also the way you talk about spaces - the door etc - opening and changing shape as the protagonist moves through it that creates a kind of moving rhythm. Thanks for sharing another great piece with us!
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, Kate. The moving rhythm was one of the main things I wanted to try and accomplish here. The story ("story"? 😅) sort of self-evolved as I was trying to do so.
Excellent piece, Nathan. I love it when writers push themselves out of their comfort zones and try new things. So very well done, bravo. While I initially made an R.L. Stine comment about that door ajar sentence, I did get more of an H.P. Lovecraft vibe here and there. Stine still fits the haunted objects trope but not the prose. Can't comment about any Nabokov similarities, been too long since I read Lolita, Lo-lee-ta, I remember the opening, though.
Good memory!
I've highlighted oh-so-many phrases from my read through, so if (most likely, when) I make a comment about the book (perhaps a Morsel) then I'll include some of his especially brilliant passages.
Lovecraft certainly runs through my brain plenty, so that vibe makes sense.
Sad to say I haven't read an R. L. Stine. Open to recommendations.
Say Cheese and Die
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/125662
In essence, any Goosebumps book. I am sure you heard of that series ;)
Or watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0591361/reference/
featuring a young Ryan Gosling
Looking forward to that Lolita morsel!
Familiar with Goosebumps, yeah, but just never got round to any. 1996! Might give that a watch, thanks.
Great a always mate.
I wrote to my mum in a blog post once on my photography website. At the end of the post I wrote "...and if you've made it this far, thanks for reading my blog, mum".
And she's never mentioned it.
Hahaha. So good. Maybe one day, at some future time, she'll message you out of the blue about it.
I don't usually like florid writing but I thought this sentence in particular was amazing: "an age from which rafts of memory float muddied by time".
I was impressed by the inclusion of French.
The word that puzzles me is " corpulence ", which I didn't think was relevant but maybe that was the point.
Funnily enough I am intending to read a Nabokov short story over the weekend.
When I was a toddler I was terrified of the vacuum cleaner because I thought it might suck me up! My mum cured it by letting me have a go at using it, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Now not so much 😱
I hope you will " try on" other styles, Nathan. Hemingway perhaps? Virginia Woolf? 😃
Thanks Terry.
I, too, am not especially fond of such writing but Nabokov really captured me. And, I have you to thank ;) This goes way back, but you posted about Nabokov in a tiny review and that prompted some discussion. I think Claudia and Shaina mentioned how good Lolita was and so I added it to my list and have only recently gotten to the book.
Will be keen to hear your thoughts from the short story (which one is it?)
Our cat has similar sentiments about the vacuum cleaner. Sadly, I've never managed to teach her to use it.
Perhaps you need to buy one of those robot vacuum cleaners and put a favourite cushion on top, so she can learn to ride it and thereby master her fear?
Heh, pretty sure she wouldn't sit still on one of those even if I strapped her to it.
😂 re cat. I will select a story from a collection called A Russian Beauty and Other Stories. One I recommend, not in that collection, is Springtime in Fialta.
Thanks. I'll add it to my list.
I have never read Nabokov, so I can’t comment on how close you came to imitating his style. What I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! The prose had a rhythm and flow that felt like being carried along by a swiftly moving brook once I got into it. The more complicated sentence structure and flowery grammar gave me a mental challenge as a reader that made me perk up and want to engage, like I was being invited to “step up” and see if I could handle it, and I was rewarded by both an evocative story and the satisfaction of making it to the end. Not an easy style to write in, well done!
Thank you so much Renee, that truly means a lot to hear. That is the *exact* sensation I've had whilst reading Nabokov, so I'm so very happy if you felt that here. Having to "step up" when reading through his long (yet elegant) sentences is a simultaneous challenge and joy. Even though the subject matter of Lolita is disturbing (especially given it is all from Humbert Humbert's point of view), I highly recommend the book.
Loved the horror of this piece and the style, whether it comes close to Nabokov or not (I really need to read something by him). A little French undoubtedly adds a certain je ne sais quoi. Also, all right-minded people should be terrified of Toby jugs.
Why thank you, Sir.
I think you would most enjoy Nabokov's style. He is quite brilliant and so very different. You would be able to more readily translate his slips into French, too.