Nabokov- Attention-Grabbing Passages

Question #4

        In Nabokov’s essay, “Good Readers and Good Writers,” there are two passages in particular that caught my attention and made me think more deeply about the theme of the piece. First of all, he identifies the three main qualities that are always found in a great writer: he is a storyteller, a teacher, and an enchanter. “A major writer combines these three—storyteller, teacher, enchanter—but it is the enchanter in him that predominates and makes him a major writer.” One quality without the other two is useless, and the writer will hardly amount to greatness.  Furthermore, without these three qualities, a writer can never unite with his reader and the balance between the two will never exist.

            Another passage that caught my attention and left a lasting impression on me as a reader was a sentence in the final paragraph. In this sentence Nabokov manages to communicate everything spoken of in the essay, from the unity of the writer and the reader to the unity of the mind when writing and reading. It also applies the extended metaphor of the artist’s mind versus the scientist’s mind. In other words, it is a sentence perfectly suited to conclude the essay. “A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine.”

Nabokov, Vladimir. "Good Readers and Good Writers." Lecture