Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0027470, Sun, 20 Aug 2017 11:59:38 -0700

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Re: Pale Fire and the Tri-partite Man
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Sam Gwynn, I feel I could respond better to your comment, without getting too deeply at this point into how I see Sybil and the anima playing out.

If I understand, your comment seems to be, "how can it be a tri-part man if there is a 4th part?"

The three parts have to do with three levels of consciousness: unconscious, conscious and super-conscious. The Shadow and the Anima are actually both part of the unconscious, as are other archetypes, including the Senex.

In alchemy, Mercurius, usually seen as negative, like the Shadow, has multiple aspects that include the many different archetypes, including a feminine aspect and a Senex aspect. Still, Jung separates out the spiritual:

“If we are to do justice to the essence of the thing we call spirit, we should really speak of a ‘higher’ consciousness rather than of the unconscious, because the concept of spirit is such that we are bound to connect it with the idea of superiority over the ego-consciousness.” (Jung, CW,Vol.8, P.335)

In his likening of alchemy to the psychological process of Individuation, the anima is not an ingredient, like sulphur, salt and mercury, but is an aspect of the process - the union of opposites (called the "coniunctio", or "heiros games" or "chymical wedding") We can see this theme in the Nabokov and Shade marriages.

The theme of opposites, mirror images, etc. runs through Nabokov's work and was also a central concern of Jung's:

“I have often discussed this problem with the late Prof. Paulai, who was also fascinated by what he called the mirror-reflection, causing the existence of two worlds which are really united in the speculum, the mirror, that is lying in the middle” (Jung, Letters Vol.II, P.469)

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