Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0023169, Thu, 2 Aug 2012 23:37:56 -0300

Subject
Re: Zolushka/incest tale?
From
Date
Body
Carolyn Kunin: "I hate to appear dense, but I cannot for the life of me comprehend in what possible sense Zolushka (Cendrillon, Aschenbrodel, etsy etsy etsy) are incest tales...But, Jansy if I may, I have no idea of what you mean by the following, and how I could possibly have anything to do with it. "I was happy when I read Carolyn Kunin's reference to "Speak, Nabokov" because, in her commentary, she stressed Maar's non-idolatrous vertex and the scope of his literary inter/intra-connections, favouring exciting inroads into VN's works." By the way, I have on my bookshelves all the books you, Jansy, reference - so perhaps I need to go back and re-read. But for the sake of others who may not have Marina(!) Warner, Bettelheim and/or Levi-Strauss, could you please be more specific. Also I fail to see any homosexuality &/or pederasty in Hamlet or Oedipus Rex. Have I been missing something obvious?"

Jansy Mello: I know that I criticized Maar's book in the past and for various reasons. Although "over interpretation" is not exactly the word I need, it comes close to my discomfort while reading Maar's misuse of the traditional psychoanalytic theories when he wrote about what he understood to be VN's inner life or motivations. However, I also recognize that his book carries invaluable information and research.

I don't know why Carolyn attributes to me the theory that the Cendrillon/Cinderella stories are particularly related to incest. Or why she denies that there's homosexuality in the Oedipus cycle. Pederasty is not actually present in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" (if I remember it right), but in what led to King Laius's attempt to kill his son (due to the malediction thrown on him by King Pelops, after he seduced his host's son, Chrysippus). Hamlet (King Lear, as well*) were freudian examples of oedipal wishes in literature, not of oedipal homosexual or pederast pre-history.

Levy-Strauss, in one of his articles in "Structural Anthropology," used the Oedipus "myth" to illustrate some of his ideas (it was from him, in that specific article, that I learned the meaning of the word "cthonic", associated to a non-sexual kind of birth, as opposed to parental coupling). I think its title was "The Symbolic Machine."

.........................................

* - Cf. Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres," or Lawrence Olivier's "King Lear." Freud chose to write about Lear's three daughters, the moira, and ancient fairy-stories, not about incest, though. Unfortunately most of these articles and books were read a long long time ago and my recollections are fragmentary..

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/







Attachment