Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0025084, Fri, 14 Feb 2014 13:11:15 -0200

Subject
Re: Shades of Grey and "law of degrees"
Date
Body
Carolyn Kunin [to Jansy] "I'm surprised to read of Nabokov's criticism of Jekyll & Hyde since he himself posited the probable cause. We know that RLS awoke in terror from a terrifying nightmare and immediately wrote down the essence of what would turn out to be the famous story.[ ] Nabokov believed [ ] Hyde's vices were not only sexual in nature but homosexual. So I am confused as to why he would have criticized RLS. Do you have a reference you can cite?[ ]. "

Jansy Mello: Are you referring to my recent posting mentioning Sandy Drescher's article "A Reading of Nabokov's "That in Aleppo Once..." where he writes: "Nabokov further emphasizes that Dr. Jekyll's character is complex, human, a compound of good and bad; while Mr. Hyde is a pure distillation, the outwardly projected essence of Jekyll's evil fraction...." ? ( cf. http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/dresch3.htm )
I know that the "google seach machine" at the VN-L can be very frustrating, at least it's disheartening to me for I seldom manage to obtain the year of the posting or the name of its author, besides other fundamental information. What I did find were (at the least) twenty entries by Carolyn Kunin discussing J&H and raising similar issues.It's about time that Ms.C.Kunin sets down her original theories about RLS & PF in an article or a book, so that even more readers can enjoy them in the future.

A very recent posting (November 2013?) bears a link to the text by Greg Buzzwell [http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/english-and-drama/2013/07/the-mystery-of-the-neglected-vampire.html ] and provides further entries related to homosexuality and even the kinbote. See "The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll & Mr Hyde", written by Robert Mighall in which the author details RLS's subtle allusions to homosexual issues [indicating William Veeder, "Children of the Night: Stevenson and Patriarchy", Hirsch and Veeder (1988), pp. 107-60; Rictor Norton, "A (longish) pre-Victorian digression on blackmail", sent to the Victoria Web (http://www.listserv.indiana.edu); Robert Louis Stevenson: The Critical Heritage, Paul Maixner ed. (1981), p. 229. ]
Both essays, by G.Buzzwell and by R. Mighall provide fundamental arguments and references. They are a must!


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