Nabokov's "Good Readers and Good Writers" Methods

Vladimir Nabokov presented "Good Readers and Good Writers" as a lecture in 1948. As his introduction and starter to his lecture, he used one sentence. "My course, among things, is a kind of detective investigation of the mystery of literary structures." It is not as straightforward as Italo Calvino's one sentence introduction but it still makes people want to read the essay. After his opening, it goes right into the second paragraph, which I would consider the second introduction. Nabokov explains what the essay is going to talk about and even tells us what the subtitles might have been if there were some. They were "How to be a Good Reader" and "Kindness to Authors." He then talks about European Masterpieces and Flaubert who wrote a letter to his mistress. Nabokov wrote it in French and then translated in into English. "Commel'on serait savant si l'on connaissaint bien seulement cinq a six livres: "What a scholar one might be if one knew well only some half a dozen books." I like that because it introduces a different language to the essay. His conclusion didn't catch my attention until the very last sentence. The last sentence was talking about a castle of cards that turns into a castle of steel and glass. It caught me off guard but wrapped up the essay beautifully!

Nabokov, Vladimir. "Good Readers and Good Writers." Lecture