Member-only story
Literature vs Content, and Why the Difference Matters
Lessons from Nabokov in the business-class lounge
“Literature, real literature, must not be gulped down like some potion which may be good for the heart or good for the brain… Literature must be taken and broken to bits, pulled apart, squashed — then its lovely reek will be smelt in the hollow of the palm, it will be munched and rolled upon the tongue with relish; then, and only then, its rare flavor will be appreciated at its true worth and the broken and crushed parts will again come together in your mind and disclose the beauty of a unity to which you have contributed something of your own blood.” — Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Russian Literature: Dostoevsky, page 105
There are no rules up here
At least, not on this side of the glass.
On your way to the VIP lounge of Barcelona Airport, you walk down a wide corridor, and through the windows, you can see the sweating, harassed travelers pulling apart their suitcases in the security line. But not you. You’re part of the elite now.
Show a boarding pass with the right barcode, and you’re ushered into a plushy lounge above the crowded mess of departures down below, where bewildered backpackers and families financially ruined by the Catalonian city’s…
