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Nornagest comments on The Classic Literature Workshop - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: Ritalin 16 June 2013 09:54AM

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Comment author: Nornagest 23 June 2013 09:16:54AM *  2 points [-]

Nabokov put out most of his famous work after WWII (and thus The Hobbit); Lolita was published in 1955, Pale Fire in 1962. With LW as an audience I think I'd recommend the latter over the former, although they're both quite good. Borges was also most prolific postwar, although there isn't a sharp division with him like there is with Nabokov.

While we're recommending authors, I might as well give a nod to Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita; Heart of a Dog). Though he's one that's hard to put an era to; he died in 1940, but The Master and Margarita was published in 1968. Translations into English came even later.

Comment author: pragmatist 23 June 2013 10:01:09AM 2 points [-]

Nabokov put out most of his famous work after WWII (and thus The Hobbit); Lolita was published in 1955, Pale Fire in 1962. With LW as an audience I think I'd recommend the latter over the former, although they're both quite good.

Actually, the Nabokov novels I prefer are generally the ones he originally wrote in Russian, pre-war. My favorite is probably The Eye.