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Re: BIRTHDAY: Iris Neva's poem and timely VN
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John A. Rea wrote about Iris Neva's poem: quite a nice figure: out of the cradle == endlessly rocking... A cradle rocked above an abyss ...little boy - A teenage poet, millionaire.- old age -- wavy white hair, almost brings to mind the infant and the now aged scientist aboard the alien rocket in "2001"
After I read JAR's appraisal, I remembered a quotation by Ernesto Sabato in his book "El escritor y sus fantasmas", under the heading "To Wake Up Mankind" where, through John Donne, he makes reference to the same theme we find in VN's striking rendering in SM.
Ernesto Sabato noted that John Donne wrote that no one sleeps when he is in the wagon that takes him from prison to execution place and, he adds, nevertheless we all sleep since the cradle until our grave, for we are seldom really awake. He concluded."One of the missions of literature: wake up mankind, we are always traveling in the direction of our death."
Unable to proceed further in my research, I enlisted A. Bouazza's expert help and he soon returned with the correct quotation from John Donne.
Ernesto Sabato's complete quotation of Donne, in English:
"We are all conceived in close prison, in our mothers' womb we are close prisoners all. When we are born, we are but born to the liberty of the house--all our life is but a going out of the place of execution and death. Now was there ever any man seen to sleep in the cart, between Newgate and Tyburn? Between the prison and the place of execution, does any man sleep? Yet he says, men sleep all the way. How much more, therefore, is there upon him in a close sleep when he is mounted on darkness."
A. Bouazza informed me that Donne wrote 161 sermons, that all of them are online but the particular citation by Sabato was difficult to locate. Most other researchers dated the sermon in 1631, the year of Donne's death but he searched backward from 1631 until 1628 with no success. Finally he located it in the Sermon XXVII, March 28,1619: Preached to the Lords upon Easter-day, at the Communion, the King being then dangerously sick at the New-Market, from which I shall transcribe the opening lines:
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Psal.89.48 What Man is he That Liveth, and Shall not See Death?
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At first, God gave the judgement of death upon a man, when he should transgresse, absolutely, Morte morieris, Thou shalt surely dye: The woman in her Dialogue with the Serpent, she mollfies it, Ne fortè moriamur, perhance, if we eate, we may die; and then the Devill is as peremptory on the other side, Nequaquam moriemini, do what you will, surerly you shall not die; And now God in his Text comes to his reply, Qui est homo, shall they not die? Give me but an instance but one exception to this rule, What man is hee that liveth, and shall not see death? Let no man,no woman, no devill offer a Ne fortè, ( perchance we may dye) much lesse a Nequaquam, ( surely we shall not dye) except he be provided with an answer to this question, except he can give an instance of this generall, except he can produce that man's name, and history, that hath lived, and shall not see death. Wee are all conceived in close Prison; in our Mothers wombes, we are close Prisoners all; when we are borne, we are borne but to the liberty of the house; Prisoner still, though within larger walls;and then all our life is but a going out to the place of Execution , to death. Now was there ever any man seen to sleep in the Cart, between New-gate, and Tyborne? between the Prison, and the place of Execution, does any man sleep? And we sleep all the way; from the womb to the grave we are never thoroughly awake; but passe on with such dreames, and imaginations as these, I may live as well, as another, and why should I dye, rather then another? but awake, and tell me, sayes this Text, Quis homo? who is that other that thou talkest of? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?
I think this is a specially adequate moment to bring up the this material, obtained by A.Bouazza's pursuing a small clue on Sabato's vision of literature to "wake up mankind".
I know VN would have avoided the philosophical turn about the "mission of literature" and yet, in my opinion he was one of the "awake" artists in his attention to detail and to poetic precision in every field of human endeavour.
Jansy Mello
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After I read JAR's appraisal, I remembered a quotation by Ernesto Sabato in his book "El escritor y sus fantasmas", under the heading "To Wake Up Mankind" where, through John Donne, he makes reference to the same theme we find in VN's striking rendering in SM.
Ernesto Sabato noted that John Donne wrote that no one sleeps when he is in the wagon that takes him from prison to execution place and, he adds, nevertheless we all sleep since the cradle until our grave, for we are seldom really awake. He concluded."One of the missions of literature: wake up mankind, we are always traveling in the direction of our death."
Unable to proceed further in my research, I enlisted A. Bouazza's expert help and he soon returned with the correct quotation from John Donne.
Ernesto Sabato's complete quotation of Donne, in English:
"We are all conceived in close prison, in our mothers' womb we are close prisoners all. When we are born, we are but born to the liberty of the house--all our life is but a going out of the place of execution and death. Now was there ever any man seen to sleep in the cart, between Newgate and Tyburn? Between the prison and the place of execution, does any man sleep? Yet he says, men sleep all the way. How much more, therefore, is there upon him in a close sleep when he is mounted on darkness."
A. Bouazza informed me that Donne wrote 161 sermons, that all of them are online but the particular citation by Sabato was difficult to locate. Most other researchers dated the sermon in 1631, the year of Donne's death but he searched backward from 1631 until 1628 with no success. Finally he located it in the Sermon XXVII, March 28,1619: Preached to the Lords upon Easter-day, at the Communion, the King being then dangerously sick at the New-Market, from which I shall transcribe the opening lines:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psal.89.48 What Man is he That Liveth, and Shall not See Death?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At first, God gave the judgement of death upon a man, when he should transgresse, absolutely, Morte morieris, Thou shalt surely dye: The woman in her Dialogue with the Serpent, she mollfies it, Ne fortè moriamur, perhance, if we eate, we may die; and then the Devill is as peremptory on the other side, Nequaquam moriemini, do what you will, surerly you shall not die; And now God in his Text comes to his reply, Qui est homo, shall they not die? Give me but an instance but one exception to this rule, What man is hee that liveth, and shall not see death? Let no man,no woman, no devill offer a Ne fortè, ( perchance we may dye) much lesse a Nequaquam, ( surely we shall not dye) except he be provided with an answer to this question, except he can give an instance of this generall, except he can produce that man's name, and history, that hath lived, and shall not see death. Wee are all conceived in close Prison; in our Mothers wombes, we are close Prisoners all; when we are borne, we are borne but to the liberty of the house; Prisoner still, though within larger walls;and then all our life is but a going out to the place of Execution , to death. Now was there ever any man seen to sleep in the Cart, between New-gate, and Tyborne? between the Prison, and the place of Execution, does any man sleep? And we sleep all the way; from the womb to the grave we are never thoroughly awake; but passe on with such dreames, and imaginations as these, I may live as well, as another, and why should I dye, rather then another? but awake, and tell me, sayes this Text, Quis homo? who is that other that thou talkest of? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?
I think this is a specially adequate moment to bring up the this material, obtained by A.Bouazza's pursuing a small clue on Sabato's vision of literature to "wake up mankind".
I know VN would have avoided the philosophical turn about the "mission of literature" and yet, in my opinion he was one of the "awake" artists in his attention to detail and to poetic precision in every field of human endeavour.
Jansy Mello
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