
Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
Literary Essays, vol. I (1864-1890)
Review of Nabokov's Lolita (1958).
Context: Many authors write like amateur blacksmiths making their first horseshoe; the clank of the anvil, the stench of the scorched leather apron, the sparks and the cursing are palpable, and this appeals to those who rank "sincerity" very high. Nabokov is more like a master swordsmith making a fine blade; nothing is amiss, nothing is too much, there is no fuss, and the finished product must be handled with great care, or it will cut you badly.
Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
Literary Essays, vol. I (1864-1890)
"Baseball Was Very, Very Good to Him," The New York Times (2000-10-29)
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“Better to love amiss than nothing to have loved.”
Tale xiv, "The Struggles of Conscience". Compare: "'T is better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all", Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxvii.
Tales in Verse (1812)