When faculty pushed for this author to be hired at Harvard, Roman Jakobson replied, “even if one allows that he is an important writer, are we next to invite an elephant to be Professor of Zoology?” For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this author of the book Lectures on Literature whose proctoring and office hours were handled by his wife Véra. While teaching at Wellesley, this author published his novel The Real Life of Sebastian Knight.
ANSWER: Vladimir Nabokov [or Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov]
[10h] Nabokov spent most of his academic career at this university, where he taught Thomas Pynchon. Another of his students, Richard Fariña, fictionalized this university in his novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me.
ANSWER: Cornell University
[10e] On a lecture tour, Nabokov quizzed students on traits held by people good at this action. Nabokov advocated for the “close” form of this action, which one is often advised to do “like a writer.”
ANSWER: reading [accept close reading]
<TM, American Literature>