Nabokov's Essay: Question 5

Nabokov's essay is dedicated to persuading us of how to be a good reader and a good writer. Therefore the structure is a persuasive one. Persuasive essays generally build up to a main point. I believe Nabokov's essay follows this certain persuasive structure. He begins with the simple instruction that we should pay attention to detail and "fondle" them. He also tells us one should always have an open-mind. "Nothing is more boring or more unfair to the author than starting to read, say, Madame Bovary, with the preconceived notion that it is a denunciation of the bourgeoisie." For those of you not cultured in French social class, for I am most certainly not, bourgeoisie means the middle class. He compares, also, the experience of writing and reading to a good hike up a mountain. Then he tells us that a good reader is a rereader. Next Nabokov visualizes the relationship of artistic balance between the reader's mind and the authors mind. Nabokov gives us many reasons throughout his essay. All of them slowly lead up to the main idea of the essay. This idea being that we should have a balance between being a reader and being a writer.

Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, and Fredson Bowers. "Good Readers and Good Writers."Lectures on Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980. Print.

"bourgeoisie." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 20 Aug. 2011. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bourgeoisie>.