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Re: QUERY: Down, Fido?
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Re: [NABOKV-L] QUERY: Down, Fido?Stan Kelly-Bootle [to Jansy/Sergey] I was reading VN's Foreword to Speak, Memory (1966 Revised Edition, Wideview/Perigee). Teasingly, he wrote:" ... I planned to entitle the British edition Speak, Mnemosyne but was told that 'little old ladies would not want to ask for a book whose title they could not pronounce.' I can imagine readers of all sizes and genders being unaware of how the Goddess Mnemosyne, the personification of Memory, fitted into the grand scheme of Greek mythology. Without delving into Platonic views on anamnesis, I found it interesting that VN pondered invoking the Mother of all these diverse creative/imaginative spirits when naming his Memoirs.
JM: I forgot how Mnemosyne fitted in the great scheme of things - but not how to pronounce her name...
Curiously, in the book I had just cited as a bibliographical item related to our Nab-L discussions the author, Christoph Henry-Thommes,* states that he "will investigate the role Mnemosyne, the Ancient Greek goddess of memory and mother of the muses, plays within Nabkov's concept of artistic inspiration" and he addes, in a foot-note: "For doctrinal reasons Augustine, the catholic thinker, did not evoke any muse in his writings."
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* Christoph Henry-Thommes: "Recollection, Memory and Imagination, Selected Autobiographical Novels of Vladimir Nabokov," American Studies, A Monograph Series, volume 132. Universitätsverlag. Winter, Heidelberg. The author investigates the structural analogies in the works of Augustine and Nabokov who, "although separated by more than one and a half millennia, are linked by certain commonly held beliefs belonging to the general Platonic tradition.." He traces the Augustinian paradigm through Nabokov's various writings and their art of memory, to work ut a "grammar of autobiography," encompassing the triad of memory, recollection and imagination.
For those who agree with Galya Diment's opinion that Speak,Memory is "the most typical autobiography in the history of world literature," Henry-Thommes's arguments, that "Nabokov's autobiographical novels and his autobiography embody a continuation of the Augustinian legacy of life writing in a strictly secularized form" shall certainly provide a wealth of information and thoughts. For the author, both Nabokov and Augustine are linked by certainly commonly held beliefs belonging to the general Platonic tradition. They share, first of all, the belief in the non-materiality of the highest form of reality, secondly the conviction that there must be a higher level of reality, than visible and sensible things, and thirdly, the conviction that there is some form of immortality."
(this is not a summary, but a selection of lines from the book's opening pages)
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JM: I forgot how Mnemosyne fitted in the great scheme of things - but not how to pronounce her name...
Curiously, in the book I had just cited as a bibliographical item related to our Nab-L discussions the author, Christoph Henry-Thommes,* states that he "will investigate the role Mnemosyne, the Ancient Greek goddess of memory and mother of the muses, plays within Nabkov's concept of artistic inspiration" and he addes, in a foot-note: "For doctrinal reasons Augustine, the catholic thinker, did not evoke any muse in his writings."
...............................................................
* Christoph Henry-Thommes: "Recollection, Memory and Imagination, Selected Autobiographical Novels of Vladimir Nabokov," American Studies, A Monograph Series, volume 132. Universitätsverlag. Winter, Heidelberg. The author investigates the structural analogies in the works of Augustine and Nabokov who, "although separated by more than one and a half millennia, are linked by certain commonly held beliefs belonging to the general Platonic tradition.." He traces the Augustinian paradigm through Nabokov's various writings and their art of memory, to work ut a "grammar of autobiography," encompassing the triad of memory, recollection and imagination.
For those who agree with Galya Diment's opinion that Speak,Memory is "the most typical autobiography in the history of world literature," Henry-Thommes's arguments, that "Nabokov's autobiographical novels and his autobiography embody a continuation of the Augustinian legacy of life writing in a strictly secularized form" shall certainly provide a wealth of information and thoughts. For the author, both Nabokov and Augustine are linked by certainly commonly held beliefs belonging to the general Platonic tradition. They share, first of all, the belief in the non-materiality of the highest form of reality, secondly the conviction that there must be a higher level of reality, than visible and sensible things, and thirdly, the conviction that there is some form of immortality."
(this is not a summary, but a selection of lines from the book's opening pages)
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/