Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005968, Mon, 21 May 2001 11:59:20 -0700

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[Fwd: Another brief VN Sighting]: synaesthesia
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EDITOR's NOTE. For those interested in Nabokovi's synaethesia, the
article is not without interest. I have suggested that Nabokov's
synaesthesia played a role in his writing style. It is the subject of
chapter one in my volume _Worlds in Regression: Some Novels of V.N_.
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Shari Goforth wrote:

> <http://www.praxispost.com/post/random/051601> "Most synesthetes
> report being hounded into silence about their condition during
> childhood, and were relieved to find other synesthetes in adulthood.
> But Vladimir Nabokov had parents with the condition; as a child, he
> used to argue with his mother about the exact color of certain
> letters. In Nabokov's 1966 autobiography, Speak, Memory, the
> Russian-born writer wrote that 'The long 'A' of the English alphabet .
> . . has for me the tint of weathered wood, but the French 'A' evokes
> polished ebony. I see Q as browner than K while S is not the light
> blue of C, but a curious mixture of azure and
> mother-of-pearl.'■ --Shari Goforth
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