Word: nearings
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...other characters in “A Gate at the Stairs” initially seem flat—they are colorful, but the reader is never given enough information to theorize about their motives. An epiphany concerning Tassie’s employers near the end of the novel explains some of their actions, but it ultimately reveals more contradictions than solutions to the mystery of their behavior. In the hands of a writer less observant of human nature, the enigmatic behavior of the supporting characters would rob the novel of its internal consistency. But Tassie’s observations...
...apposite adjective or unexpected metaphor that separates it from the more loosely polemical Russian literary tradition. It’s why Nabokov adored Tolstoy’s taut prose and thought Dostoevsky a hack. In “Laura” this compression unravels—degenerating near the end into mere personal notes (“invent tradename, e.g. cephalopium”) and haphazard lists (drawing linkages between self-dissolution and Buddhism...
...oblivious, a raging nymphomaniac, or all three. Philip Wild is not only morbidly obese, but can be seen walking striped cats on leashes down the street. Flora is groped at age 12 by an older man named “Hubert H. Hubert” (many characters are lifted near-wholesale from Nabokov’s other books). And embarrassing puns abound—a miniature chess set is given to Laura because “she knew the moves,” a “potentate is potent” until the age of 80—which...
HUDS has organized the complicated list of inter-House dining restrictions on their site. But maybe the best strategy to find a place to eat near the Yard is to find yourself some more River house friends...
...guitar. Power ballads of unrequited love replace tales of street violence and self-promotion, and the dissing and calling out of other rappers is tossed out in favor of punk-inspired castigation of society and nameless enemies. This bold step, however admirable it might be in theory, comes nowhere near the creation of good music...