Vladimir Nabokov's "Good Reader and Good Writers" - Methods of Introductions and Conclusions

VLADIMIR NABOKOV’S ESSAY – Methods of Introduction and Conclusion

“Good Readers and Good Writers” has a nice way of introducing Vladimir Nabokov’s ideas. It’s introductory paragraph includes a quote, which introduces the theme of his essay. “What a scholar one might be if one knew well only some half a dozen books.” (Nabokov 1). It means that you are not a good scholar if you do not know many different varying novels and genres. Seeing as though his essay is entitled “Good Readers and
Good Writers,” this seems like a good quote to have near the beginning. Nabokov intended for his essay to explain how you can be a good author, or a good reader, so the quote was a good introduction.

As for the conclusion, Nabokov summarizes earlier stated points. That is a typical characteristic of a conclusion, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It is good to summarize at the end of essays because then the points you wanted to be noticed will not go unnoticed. “It seems to me that a good formula to test the quality of a novel is, in the long run, a merging of the precision of poetry and the intuition of science.” (Nabokov 4). In this he summarizes the point he was trying to get out during his whole section on how to be a good writer.  Afterwards he briefly summarizes his point toward his section on how to be a good reader, “In order to bask in that magic a wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine. It is there that occurs the telltale tingle even though we must keep a little aloof, a little detached when reading.” There he explains how we should merge what the author has given us with the imagination our own mind brings up to fully enjoy the novel or other literary work. I find his introduction and conclusion very well laid out.

Nabokov Vladimir. “Good Readers and Good Writers.” Lectures on Literature. 1948. 4.