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as the moon follows the sun...
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Dear List,
On 18 Jul 1994 A.Bouazza pointed out "a remarkable coincidence": Wallace Steven's poem, "Variations on a Summer Day," ( 1939)"has these lambently Nabokovsque lines":
"..... The moon follows the sun like a French
Translation of a Russian poet."
While investigating in the archives for references about W.Stevens I found several entries ( from 1997 to 2004) mainly elaborating on whether " VN liked W.S.'s poetry." The constantly evolving mood of these discussions led me to one of W.Steven's use of Vico's idea that "the true history of the human race is a history of its progressive mental states" ( "The Necessary Angel").
W.Steven's verses, and the coincidence mentioned by AB more than ten years ago, may not only bring Nabokov to our minds but also, even if only superficially, the sun and moon in "Pale Fire" (a novel our List-participants now seem to be reluctant to substitute for any other in their debates). Not as superficially, though, these lines also succintly deal with a similar problem as the one we encounter in VN's constant preoccupation with translation, so often voiced by Kinbote.
And yet, my intention here is to introduce another kind of discussion, one that may develop concerning the changes of our psychological apprehension of poetry,tropes and sounds, observable while we follow the discussions about "Pale Fire" that have been taking place for so many years in the List.
I think that this novel does not now strike the reader in the same way as it did when it was first published. For example, Matthew Roth's recent discovery about VN's probable reference to poets, such as Edsel Ford and Darwin, may serve to guide a new shift of one's apprehension of Nabokov's intentions while writing the novel.
In my opinion, some of VN's ideas about translation, reality, fiction and satire inevitably come through the voice of Kinbote, or in Shade's, but they acquire a particular poignancy when we look at them through the wealth of material his often conflicting ( and ever expanding list of) references indicate.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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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
On 18 Jul 1994 A.Bouazza pointed out "a remarkable coincidence": Wallace Steven's poem, "Variations on a Summer Day," ( 1939)"has these lambently Nabokovsque lines":
"..... The moon follows the sun like a French
Translation of a Russian poet."
While investigating in the archives for references about W.Stevens I found several entries ( from 1997 to 2004) mainly elaborating on whether " VN liked W.S.'s poetry." The constantly evolving mood of these discussions led me to one of W.Steven's use of Vico's idea that "the true history of the human race is a history of its progressive mental states" ( "The Necessary Angel").
W.Steven's verses, and the coincidence mentioned by AB more than ten years ago, may not only bring Nabokov to our minds but also, even if only superficially, the sun and moon in "Pale Fire" (a novel our List-participants now seem to be reluctant to substitute for any other in their debates). Not as superficially, though, these lines also succintly deal with a similar problem as the one we encounter in VN's constant preoccupation with translation, so often voiced by Kinbote.
And yet, my intention here is to introduce another kind of discussion, one that may develop concerning the changes of our psychological apprehension of poetry,tropes and sounds, observable while we follow the discussions about "Pale Fire" that have been taking place for so many years in the List.
I think that this novel does not now strike the reader in the same way as it did when it was first published. For example, Matthew Roth's recent discovery about VN's probable reference to poets, such as Edsel Ford and Darwin, may serve to guide a new shift of one's apprehension of Nabokov's intentions while writing the novel.
In my opinion, some of VN's ideas about translation, reality, fiction and satire inevitably come through the voice of Kinbote, or in Shade's, but they acquire a particular poignancy when we look at them through the wealth of material his often conflicting ( and ever expanding list of) references indicate.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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