Vladimir Nabokov’s lecture is organized in a logical way. There are a couple of paragraphs assigned to one topic and the order is arranged so that the topics lead up to the most important one overall. The effect this has is that the lecture seems to be developing up to its most important point throughout the entire piece.
The first topic introduced discusses the importance of never predicting what the book is going to be about before you even begin it. Nabokov proves this by saying, “We should always remember that the work of art is invariably the creation of a new world, so the first thing we should do is study that new world as closely as possible, approaching it as something new, having no obvious connections with the worlds we already know.” This also introduces readers to the concept of the lack of truth in most novels. This is a somewhat intriguing topic as books are so often looked to for knowledge.
Next, Nabokov distinguishes the differences between a “real writer” and a “minor writer”, claiming that a real writer is able to form a connection with the reader while a minor writer lacks this ability. At this point Nabokov abruptly throws a quiz in his lecture, which illustrates for the audience the four qualities of a good reader.
Finally the lecture is brought to its conclusion which relates all the topics discussed back to the implicit thesis of Nabokov’s informative lecture and makes the piece seem much more organized with the final relation of all topics.
Nabokov, Vladimir. "Good Readers and Good Writers." 1948. Lecture.
"The UVic Writer's Guide: The Essay Methods Of Organization." University of Victoria - Web.UVic.ca. University of Victoria, 25 Sept. 2004. Web. 03 Aug. 2011. <http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/EssayOrgMethods.html>.
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