minor readers

[John Freitag Isham]

While I am not sure whether Nabokov actually refers to those types as
"minor readers," he does identify good readers with "major readers." This
can be found in the foreword-like chapter (called "Good Readers and Good
Writers") to his *Lecture on Literature* (New York/London, Harvest/HBJ,
1980).  On p. 3 he states, "A good reader, a major reader, an active and
creative reader is a rereader."

In fact (as the title of the chapter suggests) he spends most of his time
here distinguishing between "good" and "bad" readers.  Just a half-page
above the just-quoted passage can be found his very memorable "quiz",
which is where he identifies "bad readers" with those who, among other
things, try to identify themselves with the characters. It's worth quoting
the quiz and its surrounding context here:

"One evening at a remote provincial college through which I happened to be
jogging on a protracted lecture tour, I suggested a little quiz--ten
definitions of a reader, and from these ten the students had to choose
four definitions that would combine to make a good reader.  I have mislaid
the list, but as far as I remember the definitions went something like
this.  Select four answers to the question what should a reader be to be a
good reader:

1.  The reader should belong to a book club.
2.  The reader should identify himself or herself with the hero or
heroine.
3.  The reader should concentrate on the social-economic angle.
4.  The reader should prefer a story with action and dialogue to one with
none.
5.  The reader should have seen the book in a movie.
6.  The reader should be a budding author.
7.  The reader should have imagination.
8.  The reader should have memory.
9.  The reader should have a dictionary.
10.  The reader should have some artistic sense.

"The students leaned heavily on emotional identification, action, and the
social-economic or historical angle.  Of course, as you have guessed, the
good reader is one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some
artistic sense--which sense I propose to develop in myself and in others
whenever I have the chance." (pp. 2-3 from *Lectures on Literature*).

And then on p. 4 he says, "Or, and this is the worst thing a reader can
do, he identifies himself with a character in the book.  This lowly
variety is not the kind of imagination I would like readers to use."

Nabokov goes on to make points at various spots throughout the volume
regarding "good reading" and "bad reading."  So perhaps he does at some
point use the term "minor reader" in *Lectures on Literature* (or in some
other work of his).  Does anyone know if this is the case?

Regards,

John Isham


On Wed, 7 Jul 2004, Russell Valentino wrote:

> Somewhere Nabokov calls those of us who seek identification with characters
> in literary works "minor readers," presumably by analogy with minor
> characters. Can someone direct me to the source of this quip?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Russell Valentino
>
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