Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000780, Tue, 24 Oct 1995 13:47:57 -0700

Subject
Re: RJ: "Cloud, Castle, Lake" (fwd)
Date
Body
Thanks to Dieter Zimmer for spelling out the issue in detail.
I for one am happy to accept his second explanation

>(2) The man may be a traveling
> salesman or not--this is so unimportant that it can be left in the dark.
> However, he certainly is a figment of the true author's mind. He has been
> conjured up by the true author, he has suffered something that the true
> author in some way has suffered, [or imagined - RJ] and the true author lets >
> him go at the end, just as he lets go Adam Krug at the end of "Bend Sinister".

Yes - he uses this device at the conclusion of a number of other
pieces too.

It is one
> of Nabokov reflections on what constitutes the semblance of "reality" in a
> piece of fiction.

Agreed!
--
Dr Roy Johnson | Roy@mantex.demon.co.uk
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