A. Bouazza,
I think we are substantially in agreement. Vera Nabokov has been quoted as saying that the afterlife was the theme behind much of VN’s writing. One might even infer this from VN’s life long lepidopteral excursions and devotions. Butterflies and moths have two lives: first as humble earth-bound cocoon-spinning creatures. Then, after a crisis of rebirth, they live again as winged, often beautiful, metaphorically heaven-bound miracles.
It is not surprising that VN had a thorough knowledge of biblical iconography. A subject of such deep, archetypal interest to such a large proportion of Americans and Europeans would certainly receive his scrutiny, even if he rarely brought this knowledge into his work.
AndrewB
On 9/14/06 9:41 AM, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] A Brown re: Christianity in SO
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2006 03:47:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: A. Bouazza <mushtary@yahoo.com> <mailto:mushtary@yahoo.com>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> <mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Dear Mr. Brown,
I must say I did anticipate your reading. VN's words
sound tantalizingly ambiguous, but since he is
speaking about the creation of world(s), I do think
he means the Bible. But I certainly would not want to
say that he was influenced by it, only that he knew
that holy book. Which reminds me of the anecdote (I am
far from my library at the moment) told in Boyd's VN:
The American Years, regarding stained glass church
windows depicting saints, and VN displayed to his
interlocutor (an expert in such matters) an impressive
knowledge about the various St Johns. The same
anecdote is to be found in another book, Nabokov at
Cornell, perhaps? And the question one may ask is, do
VN's writings evince such a knowledge? I do not think
so.
A. Bouazza
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