Is it just me? In the Foreward to the novel Lolita (supposedly written by John Ray, Jr) there's a line about Haze rhyming with Lolita's real last name. Was it really Hayes? How come no one ever mentioned this, even in the Annotated Lolita? Seems odd, even knowing how much Nabokov likes shadows and shades.

This post is like a fruit bowl with three fruits: Abbreviations, The List of Books, and the Rules. You might complain that those are not fruits; but the simile makes up in fruitiness what it lacks in precision.

Abbeviations:

This Sub: RRWN (pronounced "Win", as you would pronounce it when thinking simultaneously of "Vrooom" and "Winner", and your accent reflects the fact that you mother is Scottish and your father a Netherlander)

LoL: Lectures on Literature

TAA: Throwaway accounts, a reddit account you created for just a post or two.

HOT: The Heresiarchs of Tlön, who have already described all the posts that will ever be referenced, attempted or hypothesized in RRWN.

CAW: Chatto and Windus

VN: Vladimir Nabokov, a lecturer at a supposed institution posited by HOT.

VIB: Voided in Bed

ULYSSES: Urban Lifestyles, Sustainability and integrated Environmental Assessment

The Seven Subject books

The books discussed in LoL: Mansfield Park; Swann's Way; Madame Bovary; Ulysses; The Metamorphosis; Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; Bleak House

Abstract Rules

Top level posts should be written in a writerly, authoritative, style. The prose may be gaily gaudy or grimly prosaic, but it should be neither spontaneous nor casual. Avoid "I"; present your (perhaps assumed) opinions as fact -- rather than "I can't stomach Esther's goody-goody-ness," write instead: "Esther's goody-goody-ness is intolerable," or "The reader who has some experience of the normally occurring range of human emotional spectrum assumes Esther is a foil, a fiction in a fiction."

Write with a style, and don't only write in your own style. It is a game. The goal of the game is to cultivate a profound knowledge of the 8 subject books' contents and of Nabokov's opinion about them (them contents), while feeling oneself a member of a community much superior to plebeian outsiders who cannae keep oop as your imaginary mother says. Whimsy, erudition and an all-welcoming exclusivity are the goals.

In the top level posts, RRWN is like a fancy-dress party; no one needs to know who you are and we can all revel in language we wouldn't normally employ.

Concrete Rules

Top level posts

• Specificity Top level posts must reference 1) specific passages in one of the seven

subject novels or 2) specific passages in Lectures on Literature or 3) some specific passage in another book or article by VN (If you're dead set on talking about Ducks, Newburyport or The Gorgics or Mr. Sammler's Planet, and your remarks relate to something in LoL, OK.)

• Scope Posts can be as short as one sentence, E.g. "The apples Gregor's father launches

at him correspond to the apple which launched the face into the prominence that in turn launched 1K ships."

• You may post about the sub itself (meta-posts) without referring to

specific books.

• Throwaway accounts are allowed and encouraged for top level posts. (See

AUQ, below)

Comments

In comments, be yourself, or not, use it like the rest of reddit, no special rules apply. Comments that discourage participation, based on the subjective judgement of those empowered to remove them (them comments), might be removed, ignored, or excoriated, as the mood takes the potential remover.

AUQ Answers to Unasked questions:

Do I really have to read all seven books to participate? Up to you; you should pretend you have.

How do I handle spoilers Don't worry about spoilers, assume everyone here has read all the books.

Can I make a suggestion Yes, meta-posts, about the sub itself, are always welcome.

I have yet to read the two big books - Ulysses and Swann's Way - and it will probably not be until early 2016 that I do. So I won't post much til then. But anyone else who wants to start, jump in. Meanwhile, I'm creating the sub to see if it picks up a stray subscriber or two.