Delight

When I was in 9th grade David Mamet taught an after school writing class at my high school. I went a bunch of times. I don't think that it was a great class, but one thing he said stuck with me. The purpose of art, he said, is to cause delight in its audience. Not to educate, not to entertain, and no long complicated bullshit, but simply to delight. I bring this up because I am in the middle of Vladimir Nabokov's Ada, which is the most delightful book I've read in a long time. Nabokov creates a world that is so vivid, so real, that I can't help but believe in it, and characters that I can't help but love. I'm told that it is also a satire on the history of the novel as an art form, but I confess that I'm not knowledgeable enough to pick up on that at all. What I like most about Ada is Nabokov's sense of humor. It's wicked and sharp. I was wondering this morning whether there might be a large overlap between Nabokov fans and Elvis Costello fans. Their esthetic is somewhat similar, despite the fact that Elvis works in pop art and Nabokov in high art (though sometimes the distinction is blury). They are both extremely self-concious, ironic artists who have vicious senses of humor. They also both have very distinct styles, but are aware of their influences and aren't afraid to refer to them. Of course, one is a pop singer and the other is an author, so the comparison only goes so far. But they're both definitely delightful.