Subject
Synaesthesia and symbolism
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Date
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Considering Nabokov´s synesthaetic abilities, his attention to detail,
colors, rhythms and sounds I was led to doubt the hypothesis that described
Nabokov as an "anti-symbolist". We know that the French Symbolists actively
pursued "a disorder of the senses" to reveal links between words, sounds or
colors, even if not reaching these by natural "synesthetic" means, but
through verbal artifacts. According to their ideas a thing exists beyond
itself because it is the sign of another thing which, in turn, gives rise to
a symbol, by the workings of infinite correspondences.
A symbol should, above all, express particular connections or, following
Baudelaire, reveal the universal reciprocity ( "les correspondances" of
sounds, colors, smells that mutually respond) that is being directed
towards a same primordial idea which a poem then strives to express.
"La poésie est l'expression, par le langage humain ramené à son rythme
essentiel, du sens mystérieux des aspects de l'existence." Mallarmé.
Rimbaud wrote: "Il s´agit d árriver à l ´inconnu par le dérèglement de tous
les sens"
I remember having underlined in "Speak Memory" many assertions by Nabokov
concerning the invisible link between objects and their subtle
"correspondances".
I´m curious about the way in which VN could have objected to the doctrine or
"philosophy" of the "symbolists".
Jansy Mello
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Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
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colors, rhythms and sounds I was led to doubt the hypothesis that described
Nabokov as an "anti-symbolist". We know that the French Symbolists actively
pursued "a disorder of the senses" to reveal links between words, sounds or
colors, even if not reaching these by natural "synesthetic" means, but
through verbal artifacts. According to their ideas a thing exists beyond
itself because it is the sign of another thing which, in turn, gives rise to
a symbol, by the workings of infinite correspondences.
A symbol should, above all, express particular connections or, following
Baudelaire, reveal the universal reciprocity ( "les correspondances" of
sounds, colors, smells that mutually respond) that is being directed
towards a same primordial idea which a poem then strives to express.
"La poésie est l'expression, par le langage humain ramené à son rythme
essentiel, du sens mystérieux des aspects de l'existence." Mallarmé.
Rimbaud wrote: "Il s´agit d árriver à l ´inconnu par le dérèglement de tous
les sens"
I remember having underlined in "Speak Memory" many assertions by Nabokov
concerning the invisible link between objects and their subtle
"correspondances".
I´m curious about the way in which VN could have objected to the doctrine or
"philosophy" of the "symbolists".
Jansy Mello
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