Subject
Nabokov on monism, symmetry, and doubles
From
Date
Body
Michael Glynn wrote: "On p124 of Strong Opinions (Vintage), an interviewer
reminds Nabokov that the latter once styled himself "an indivisible monist."
This would appear to go to the heart of the way Nabokov saw the world..."
Stephen Blackwell brought up an impressive bibliographical indication,
mentioning that "Dana Dragunoiu has also written about VN's monism in the
context of Berkeley, both in a Nabokov Studies article ("Dialogues with
Berkeley: Idealist Metaphysics and Epistemology in Nabokov's Bend Sinister."
Nabokov Studies 5 (1998/1999): 47-62) and in her dissertation, " 'The
Universe Embraced by Consciousness': Nabokov's Philosophical Domain." ( U of
Toronto, 2000). Dragoniou's titles, in themselves, seem to confirm
Michael's question on " monism and how Nabokov saw the world".
In another posting we find the hypothesis raised by Dave Haan concerning
symmetry in Nabokov as "a set-up, a
red herring, something to falsify by the telling detail and so undermine
allegory...denying that formal properties can in
and of themselves encompass meaning...structure aiming to be paradoxical
rather than paradigmatic...
Don B.Johnson informed that " VN first makes the "monist" remark in his 1966
interview with Appel SO (84). The TIME interviewers (Duffy &
Sheppard)asked for an elaboration in March 1969 (SO 124)." and S.Elizabeth
Sweeney added that this remark was made "in a lengthy interview with Alfred
Appel Jr. (for Contemporary Literature), p. 85 of the Vintage ed." and added
that "The broader context for the remark, with regard to symmetry, is VN's
possibly facetious rejection of the "Doppelganger subject" as a "frightful
bore" earlier in the interview (p. 83).
The sheer collection of observations, questions and informations suggests
that there might be a link between VN's "monism", "symmetry",
"Doppelgänger" and "structure". It also offers an instigating window onto
"monism" when set side by side with the distinction between a poem's or a
text's formal properties and their meaning. Matter and form, body and
spirit, ghosts and mirrors...
Was the term "monist" employed only facetiously to indicate VN's rejection
of the Doppelgänger theme or does it also bear a deeper philosophical
resonance? Nabokov was very insistent in his clear opposition to specific
ideas, distortions and theories while he constantly returned to them
(Doppelgänger, Freud, Romantism, Perversion, etc) and kept them alive,
instead of dropping them off from his work as a whole.
If I remember it correctly, in his book on "Structural Anthropology"
Levy-Strauss concluded that the structure of myths reveals that these
creations are not only an imaginative attempt to explain the mysteries of
the world - but that these also bring together contrasting or contradictory
elements that point to the kind of paradoxes which we must confront on an
almost daily basis. Beth's use of the word "facetious" seems to be very apt
in this context: should we always trust VN's explicit rejections or
endorsements?
Jansy
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reminds Nabokov that the latter once styled himself "an indivisible monist."
This would appear to go to the heart of the way Nabokov saw the world..."
Stephen Blackwell brought up an impressive bibliographical indication,
mentioning that "Dana Dragunoiu has also written about VN's monism in the
context of Berkeley, both in a Nabokov Studies article ("Dialogues with
Berkeley: Idealist Metaphysics and Epistemology in Nabokov's Bend Sinister."
Nabokov Studies 5 (1998/1999): 47-62) and in her dissertation, " 'The
Universe Embraced by Consciousness': Nabokov's Philosophical Domain." ( U of
Toronto, 2000). Dragoniou's titles, in themselves, seem to confirm
Michael's question on " monism and how Nabokov saw the world".
In another posting we find the hypothesis raised by Dave Haan concerning
symmetry in Nabokov as "a set-up, a
red herring, something to falsify by the telling detail and so undermine
allegory...denying that formal properties can in
and of themselves encompass meaning...structure aiming to be paradoxical
rather than paradigmatic...
Don B.Johnson informed that " VN first makes the "monist" remark in his 1966
interview with Appel SO (84). The TIME interviewers (Duffy &
Sheppard)asked for an elaboration in March 1969 (SO 124)." and S.Elizabeth
Sweeney added that this remark was made "in a lengthy interview with Alfred
Appel Jr. (for Contemporary Literature), p. 85 of the Vintage ed." and added
that "The broader context for the remark, with regard to symmetry, is VN's
possibly facetious rejection of the "Doppelganger subject" as a "frightful
bore" earlier in the interview (p. 83).
The sheer collection of observations, questions and informations suggests
that there might be a link between VN's "monism", "symmetry",
"Doppelgänger" and "structure". It also offers an instigating window onto
"monism" when set side by side with the distinction between a poem's or a
text's formal properties and their meaning. Matter and form, body and
spirit, ghosts and mirrors...
Was the term "monist" employed only facetiously to indicate VN's rejection
of the Doppelgänger theme or does it also bear a deeper philosophical
resonance? Nabokov was very insistent in his clear opposition to specific
ideas, distortions and theories while he constantly returned to them
(Doppelgänger, Freud, Romantism, Perversion, etc) and kept them alive,
instead of dropping them off from his work as a whole.
If I remember it correctly, in his book on "Structural Anthropology"
Levy-Strauss concluded that the structure of myths reveals that these
creations are not only an imaginative attempt to explain the mysteries of
the world - but that these also bring together contrasting or contradictory
elements that point to the kind of paradoxes which we must confront on an
almost daily basis. Beth's use of the word "facetious" seems to be very apt
in this context: should we always trust VN's explicit rejections or
endorsements?
Jansy
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