Subject
Re: Speculating about vs. assuming VN's knowledge, interest,
or intentions
or intentions
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Date
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Matthew wrote: "Of course we should try to find out what Nabokov knew. That
does not, however, mean that we can't first speculate, then move on to the
business of proving the hypothesis. The multiple personality debate is for
me a good example of an interesting theory that has enough going for it that
we may move beyond the text to an investigation of VN's knowledge and
interest in the topic."
Dear Matthew and List,
The RLS ( "Dr.Jekyll & Mr. Hyde") probably didn't require special medical
backing for the creation of its plot about a multiple personalities. Their
interest, as related to Pale Fire, lies in the different sizes and shapes
assumed by the two alternating figures ( like the tall, longilinear elastic
Kinbote and our stocky,clumsy tottering Shade).
Nabokov would probably have written his novels without the debatable label
of MPD -- and I wish someone would offer me a consistent bibliography by
psychiatrists and scientists, not of novels or movies where it is already
explored in excess -- LATH, Ada... all of them bear witness to a similar
"spliting" phenomenon, sometimes creating various distinct momentary
divisions along the same novel, particularly in ADA.
Nabokov's interests were very wide and he might have added something about
reading William James's theories on ghosts, and even applied information
gathered from movies like "The Three Faces of Eve". My argument, here, is
that these elements came as "additional clues", often in a humorous vein.
In my opinion "allusions" do not determine the structure of a plot nor do
they become an integral part of the novel in which they occur. It is my
impression that our artist's choice of tropes ( and pastiche, allegory,
allusion, indication, reference...) in the process of building his novel
are, as concepts, often mentioned here in a rather hazy manner. It is as if
they had become divided and as interchangeable as what happens with all
those personalities that apparently branch out from the same physical body.
Speaking about branches... does the shagbark tree extend its limbs in a way
that makes it possible to hang a swing on one of their branches?
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
does not, however, mean that we can't first speculate, then move on to the
business of proving the hypothesis. The multiple personality debate is for
me a good example of an interesting theory that has enough going for it that
we may move beyond the text to an investigation of VN's knowledge and
interest in the topic."
Dear Matthew and List,
The RLS ( "Dr.Jekyll & Mr. Hyde") probably didn't require special medical
backing for the creation of its plot about a multiple personalities. Their
interest, as related to Pale Fire, lies in the different sizes and shapes
assumed by the two alternating figures ( like the tall, longilinear elastic
Kinbote and our stocky,clumsy tottering Shade).
Nabokov would probably have written his novels without the debatable label
of MPD -- and I wish someone would offer me a consistent bibliography by
psychiatrists and scientists, not of novels or movies where it is already
explored in excess -- LATH, Ada... all of them bear witness to a similar
"spliting" phenomenon, sometimes creating various distinct momentary
divisions along the same novel, particularly in ADA.
Nabokov's interests were very wide and he might have added something about
reading William James's theories on ghosts, and even applied information
gathered from movies like "The Three Faces of Eve". My argument, here, is
that these elements came as "additional clues", often in a humorous vein.
In my opinion "allusions" do not determine the structure of a plot nor do
they become an integral part of the novel in which they occur. It is my
impression that our artist's choice of tropes ( and pastiche, allegory,
allusion, indication, reference...) in the process of building his novel
are, as concepts, often mentioned here in a rather hazy manner. It is as if
they had become divided and as interchangeable as what happens with all
those personalities that apparently branch out from the same physical body.
Speaking about branches... does the shagbark tree extend its limbs in a way
that makes it possible to hang a swing on one of their branches?
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