In this video, Nabokov provides an incidental tutorial on the pronunciation of Lolita, denounces Faulkner’s “corn-cobby chronicles,” and praises Joyce, Kafka, and “the first half of Proust’s fairytale, In Search of Lost Time.” (Via.)
Jack Pendarvis learns from Blount’s Alphabet Juice that Twain used the word “googling” in Huck Finn.
The Smart Set is a weekly feature, compiled and posted by Lauren Cerand, that usually appears Mondays at 12:30 pm, and highlights the best of the week to come. Special favor is given to New York’s independent booksellers and venues, and low-cost and free events. Please send details to Ms. Cerand at lauren [at] maudnewton.com by the Thursday prior to . . .
Something I learned this Thanksgiving, and really should have known or at least researched beforehand: a 19-pound turkey for seven people is ridiculous, ridiculous overkill, especially when one of those people is a vegetarian. The past few days have been punctuated by ever-more-creative (and unappetizing) turkey concoctions, and endless naps. Today, in search of a recipe to counteract the dismal . . .
Toni Morrison talks with Sam Tanenhaus about setting A Mercy in a time when America was fluid — “before slavery and black became married.”