Oh, 'impressed' is not the right word! Treading the soil of the moon gives one, I imagine (or rather my projected self imagines), the most remarkable romantic thrill ever experienced in the history of discovery. Of course, I rented a television set to watch every moment of their marvelous adventure. That gentle little minuet that despite their awkward suits the two men danced with such grace to the tune of lunar gravity was a lovely sight. It was also a moment when a flag means to one more than a flag usually does. I am puzzled and pained by the fact that the English weeklies ignored the absolutely overwhelming excitement of the adventure, the strange sensual exhilaration of palpating those precious pebbles, of seeing our marbled globe in the black sky, of feeling along one's spine the shiver and wonder of it. After all, Englishmen should understand that thrill, they who have been the greatest, the purest explorers. Why then drag in such irrelevant matters as wasted dollars and power politics?
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The author describes the Moon landing as a romantic, thrilling experience that was under‑appreciated by the English press.
- In plain terms
- The Moon landing felt like a romantic thrill that many missed.
- What can you take from it?
- Pay attention to the emotional impact of historic events.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do some cultures overlook certain achievements?
- How does media shape our excitement?
Another view
The description is highly subjective and may over‑romanticize the event.
More from Vladimir Nabokov
Let the credulous and the vulgar continue to believe that all mental woes can be cured by a daily application of old Greek myths to their private parts.
Permalink to quote #23 If I say that Nabokov, who was educated in England... turns out to be a master of English prose - the most extraordinary phenomenon of the kind since Conrad - …
Permalink to quote #25 To return to my lecturing days: I automatically gave low marks when a student used the dreadful phrase 'sincere and simple' - 'Flaubert writes with a style whi…
Permalink to quote #22
Related quotes
From a magician's midnight sleeve the radio-singers distribute all their love-songs over the dew-wet lawns.
Elizabeth BishopElizabeth Bishop quote #4 How have you left the ancient love That bards of old enjoyed in you! The languid strings do scarcely move! The sound is forced, the notes are few!
William BlakeWilliam Blake quote #30 Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century.
Marshall McLuhanMarshall McLuhan quote #35