Subject
Preparation H in Pale Fire (VN and linguistics)
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[EDNOTE. Stan Kelly-Bootle responds here to Jansy Mello's earlier email
on purloined "letters" in PF. --SES]
JM (if you'll forgive the initial formality?): love VN's "cosmic" ->
"comic"
transformation. Joyce had his "funeral" -> "funferal."
Some Medieval soi-disants etymologists "literally" believed that
"lignum"
must be related to "ignis" since "fire" sort of resided in the "wood."
Spoilsport Saussure urges caution: the mapping from signifier to
signified
is entirely arbitrary. VN, contra Saussure, seems to _see_ words
themselves
as direct, howbeit "shadowy," links to an underpinning reality. Shadows
certainly distort and hide aspects of the objects casting them, but, as
in
Plato's caves, VN's word-shadows are far from arbitrary.
Can someone[s] point me to relevant VN sources? I'm especially
interested in
VN's reaction, if any, to Chomsky's spin on "universal &
transformational
grammar." This could add to the previous exchanges on VN's views on
"stream
of consciousness" narrative.
skb
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on purloined "letters" in PF. --SES]
JM (if you'll forgive the initial formality?): love VN's "cosmic" ->
"comic"
transformation. Joyce had his "funeral" -> "funferal."
Some Medieval soi-disants etymologists "literally" believed that
"lignum"
must be related to "ignis" since "fire" sort of resided in the "wood."
Spoilsport Saussure urges caution: the mapping from signifier to
signified
is entirely arbitrary. VN, contra Saussure, seems to _see_ words
themselves
as direct, howbeit "shadowy," links to an underpinning reality. Shadows
certainly distort and hide aspects of the objects casting them, but, as
in
Plato's caves, VN's word-shadows are far from arbitrary.
Can someone[s] point me to relevant VN sources? I'm especially
interested in
VN's reaction, if any, to Chomsky's spin on "universal &
transformational
grammar." This could add to the previous exchanges on VN's views on
"stream
of consciousness" narrative.
skb
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