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Re: A Bouazza re: Christianity in SO]
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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 VN¹s writing. One
might even infer this from VN¹s 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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