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Re: [Fwd: Death in Nabokov's Works]
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If you read German I would suggest: Christopher Hüllen, Der Tod im Werk
Vladimir Nabokovs: Terra Incognita (Arbeiten und Texte zur Slavistik 48,
Herausgegeben von Wolfgang Kasack). München, Verlag Otto Sagner 1990.
A. Bouazza.
_____
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf
Of Nabokv-L
Sent: zaterdag 7 augustus 2010 23:38
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] [Fwd: Death in Nabokov's Works]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Death in Nabokov's Works
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 10:30:40 -0700
From: Brian M. Bush <mailto:b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK> <b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK>
To: <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
CC: Brian M. Bush <mailto:b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK> <b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK>
-----
Dear All,
I'm new to this immensely helpful forum, and want to put a question to all
of you Nabokovians. I'm contemplating writing a master's dissertation on
(what I perceive to be) one of the central themes of Nabokov's
oeuvre--namely, his obsessive preoccupation with death. I want to argue
that Nabokov was John Donne-like in his recurrent meditations on death.
I've found a wealth of examples of VN's intimations of mortality in Speak,
Memory, Pale Fire, and Bend Sinister. Some of the more famous examples
include:
"The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our
existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness"
(SM, 19).**
"I have to have all space and all time participate in my emotion, in my
mortal love, so that the edge of its mortality is taken off, thus helping me
to fight the utter degradation, ridicule, and horror of having developed an
infinity of sensation and thought within a finite existence" (SM, 297).
Similarly, Adam Krug admits he cannot "accept the inanity of accumulating
incalculable treasures of thought and sensation, and thought-behind-thought
and sensation-behind-sensation, to lose them all at once and forever in a
fit of black nausea followed by infinite nothingness" (BS, 99).
Pale Fire is also teeming with examples of both Shade's and Kinbote's
preoccupation with (and attempted transcendence of) death. Related to the
opening sentence of Speak, Memory, are Shade's lines: "Infinite foretime and
/ Infinite aftertime: above your head / They close like giant wings, and you
are dead" (PF, 37).
I'm hoping you will recommend other works which exhibit this tendency to
shudder in the face of the "absolute nothingness, nichto" of death (BS,
175). Other novels and short stories which depict death as the great
negator of human consciousness. Also, are there any secondary works of
criticism devoted to this theme that I should read? So far, I've only found
one monograph directly related to this topic (Nina Allan's "Madness, Death
and Disease in the Fiction of Vladimir Nabokov"). Any and all suggestions
would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
All the best,
Brian Bush
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Vladimir Nabokovs: Terra Incognita (Arbeiten und Texte zur Slavistik 48,
Herausgegeben von Wolfgang Kasack). München, Verlag Otto Sagner 1990.
A. Bouazza.
_____
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf
Of Nabokv-L
Sent: zaterdag 7 augustus 2010 23:38
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] [Fwd: Death in Nabokov's Works]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Death in Nabokov's Works
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 10:30:40 -0700
From: Brian M. Bush <mailto:b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK> <b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK>
To: <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
CC: Brian M. Bush <mailto:b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK> <b.m.bush@DUR.AC.UK>
-----
Dear All,
I'm new to this immensely helpful forum, and want to put a question to all
of you Nabokovians. I'm contemplating writing a master's dissertation on
(what I perceive to be) one of the central themes of Nabokov's
oeuvre--namely, his obsessive preoccupation with death. I want to argue
that Nabokov was John Donne-like in his recurrent meditations on death.
I've found a wealth of examples of VN's intimations of mortality in Speak,
Memory, Pale Fire, and Bend Sinister. Some of the more famous examples
include:
"The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our
existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness"
(SM, 19).**
"I have to have all space and all time participate in my emotion, in my
mortal love, so that the edge of its mortality is taken off, thus helping me
to fight the utter degradation, ridicule, and horror of having developed an
infinity of sensation and thought within a finite existence" (SM, 297).
Similarly, Adam Krug admits he cannot "accept the inanity of accumulating
incalculable treasures of thought and sensation, and thought-behind-thought
and sensation-behind-sensation, to lose them all at once and forever in a
fit of black nausea followed by infinite nothingness" (BS, 99).
Pale Fire is also teeming with examples of both Shade's and Kinbote's
preoccupation with (and attempted transcendence of) death. Related to the
opening sentence of Speak, Memory, are Shade's lines: "Infinite foretime and
/ Infinite aftertime: above your head / They close like giant wings, and you
are dead" (PF, 37).
I'm hoping you will recommend other works which exhibit this tendency to
shudder in the face of the "absolute nothingness, nichto" of death (BS,
175). Other novels and short stories which depict death as the great
negator of human consciousness. Also, are there any secondary works of
criticism devoted to this theme that I should read? So far, I've only found
one monograph directly related to this topic (Nina Allan's "Madness, Death
and Disease in the Fiction of Vladimir Nabokov"). Any and all suggestions
would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
All the best,
Brian Bush
Search the archive
<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en>
Contact the <mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Editors
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com>
Visit <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> Zembla View
Nabokv-L <http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm> Policies Manage
subscription <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/> options
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
co-editors.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/