Subject
Re: Jansy and Nabokov's dreams
From
Date
Body
From DOn Johnson,
I would ADD TO Jansy's comments that during his Swiss years
Nabokov kept a dreambook in which he logged his dreams in an efforts
to find evidence of precognition and the nature of time. DN has used
some of these descriptions in talks, but I don't recall whether
information mad eits way into print.
Best, Don
----------------------------------
Jansy <jansy@AETERN.US>:
> Picking up a book in the furthest corner of a book-case, I came upon
> "The Oxford Book of Dreams", chosen by Stephen Brooke for the
> Oxford University Press, 1983.
>
> The Contents were outlined under: Introduction, Prologue, Three
> parts ( I. From Birth to Death;2. Earthly Things; III. The
> Dreamworld), Conclusion, Acknowledgements; Index.
>
> Not only was I surprised to find VN quoted in the Book of Dreams,
> but to see that there were four references to dreams related by him
> on pages 2, 45-6, 206-7, 243. With the exception of the first, all
> the others came from "Lolita".
>
> Nabokov's short sentence from "Perfection" came already in the Prologue.
> ("Human dreams do not easily forget old drudges").
> Next, on Part I ( From Birth to Death, item Love and Sex), with a
> dream taken down by Humbert prefaced by a bit of day-dreaming.
> Nothing on Item II, but then again on Part III ( The Dream World,
> items The Absurd and Interpretations) with Humbert's dream about
> Lolita disguised as Valeria or Charlotte, also the everpresent
> attack on psychiatrists with H's "never allowing them the slightest
> glimpse of one's real sexual predicament".
>
> In his Introduction, Stephen Brook wrote that "the dreams in this
> book are instances of the literary exploitation of the dream
> experience...the dream as a literary device is bound up with the use
> its creator chooses to make of it. The invention of a dream is in
> itself an act of interpretation" He closes his preface noting that
> "this book has been devised as entertainment, not as thesis or
> instruction".
>
> I don't know if this sighting has already been described in our
> List, but I thought that it might still be worthwhile to bring it
> up, either for the first time or as a repetition. The dreams quoted
> close to those of VN's offer an interesting link bt. him and the
> other authors. VN's written dreams, stemming from Lolita, are almost
> "sober" if we compare the selection with dreams inside dreams and
> mixed with day-dreams, reminiscences and hallucinations, as we find
> in ADA...
>
> Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
I would ADD TO Jansy's comments that during his Swiss years
Nabokov kept a dreambook in which he logged his dreams in an efforts
to find evidence of precognition and the nature of time. DN has used
some of these descriptions in talks, but I don't recall whether
information mad eits way into print.
Best, Don
----------------------------------
Jansy <jansy@AETERN.US>:
> Picking up a book in the furthest corner of a book-case, I came upon
> "The Oxford Book of Dreams", chosen by Stephen Brooke for the
> Oxford University Press, 1983.
>
> The Contents were outlined under: Introduction, Prologue, Three
> parts ( I. From Birth to Death;2. Earthly Things; III. The
> Dreamworld), Conclusion, Acknowledgements; Index.
>
> Not only was I surprised to find VN quoted in the Book of Dreams,
> but to see that there were four references to dreams related by him
> on pages 2, 45-6, 206-7, 243. With the exception of the first, all
> the others came from "Lolita".
>
> Nabokov's short sentence from "Perfection" came already in the Prologue.
> ("Human dreams do not easily forget old drudges").
> Next, on Part I ( From Birth to Death, item Love and Sex), with a
> dream taken down by Humbert prefaced by a bit of day-dreaming.
> Nothing on Item II, but then again on Part III ( The Dream World,
> items The Absurd and Interpretations) with Humbert's dream about
> Lolita disguised as Valeria or Charlotte, also the everpresent
> attack on psychiatrists with H's "never allowing them the slightest
> glimpse of one's real sexual predicament".
>
> In his Introduction, Stephen Brook wrote that "the dreams in this
> book are instances of the literary exploitation of the dream
> experience...the dream as a literary device is bound up with the use
> its creator chooses to make of it. The invention of a dream is in
> itself an act of interpretation" He closes his preface noting that
> "this book has been devised as entertainment, not as thesis or
> instruction".
>
> I don't know if this sighting has already been described in our
> List, but I thought that it might still be worthwhile to bring it
> up, either for the first time or as a repetition. The dreams quoted
> close to those of VN's offer an interesting link bt. him and the
> other authors. VN's written dreams, stemming from Lolita, are almost
> "sober" if we compare the selection with dreams inside dreams and
> mixed with day-dreams, reminiscences and hallucinations, as we find
> in ADA...
>
> Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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