Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000528, Thu, 30 Mar 1995 08:24:59 -0800

Subject
"Signs and Symbols" Poll (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Dieter E. Zimmer <100126.2576@compuserve.com>

Of course, that last phone call (the third one) is ambiguous. It might be the
girl wanting to talk to Charlie once more, though that is unlikely as her
mistake in dialing had just been explained to her. It might be somebody else
neither the old couple nor the reader is acquainted with. There is no knowing.
But I believe everybody is led to expect the worst: that the clinic is calling
at this unusual hour to inform them that their son had finally succeeded in
tearing a whole in his world and had escaped to death.
There are a few numbers in the story, all suggesting an uneluctible
sequentiality of things. Destiny says one, two, three, and at three it hits.
"Signs and Symbols" is one of the most perfect short stories I know.
-- Dieter E.Zimmer, Hamburg --