Subject
VN Bibliography: Synaesthesia
Date
Body
Although the centennial year is saturated with publications about
VN, some may escape even the vigilant eye.
Kevin T. Dann. _Bright Colors Falsely Seen: Synaesthesia and the Search
for Transcendental Knowledge_ New Haven: Yale UP, 1998.
This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in the
central role of
synaesthesia and eidetic imagery in Nabokov's creative process and
writing. Nabokov devotes
chapter 2 of his autobiography to S&E (most prominently 'colored
hearing') -- ostensibly presenting it as a personal psychological quirk. A
closer reading shows that he regards it as crucial to his style -- as I
have argued in my _Worlds in Regression_. Dann's book is a history of
synaesthesia/eideticism in modern thought ranging from the French
Decadents through New Age Hoo-Ha (my term--not Dann's). Synaesthesia has
been hailed by various offshoots of Romanticism as a mode of cognition
that breaks through the perceptual boundaries of reason into the
Ineffable. Dann offers a thorough survey of psychological studies of the
topic and, going well beyond the usual limits of a historian,
highlights overlooked older studies and under-regarded recent research.
Although many case studies are briefly described, the only one given in
depth is that of VN who is the subject of a 45-page chapter -- somewhat
confusingly entitled "The Gift." (It refers to synaesthesia--not the novel
of that name--and treats much of VN's work.) Dann argues that VN
exemplifies the "traditional" view that makes synaesthesia an opening into the
transcendent, specifically into the postustoronnost, or "otherworld."
More immediately, it accounts for the minutely detailed descriptions that
are characteristic of his style.
Dann writes lucidly and has a good grasp of both synaesthesia/eideticism
and of VN's work. If any complaint is to be made, it is that the
history/theory material is not so well integrated with the VN material as
one might like. Highly recommended.
D. Barton Johnson
VN, some may escape even the vigilant eye.
Kevin T. Dann. _Bright Colors Falsely Seen: Synaesthesia and the Search
for Transcendental Knowledge_ New Haven: Yale UP, 1998.
This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in the
central role of
synaesthesia and eidetic imagery in Nabokov's creative process and
writing. Nabokov devotes
chapter 2 of his autobiography to S&E (most prominently 'colored
hearing') -- ostensibly presenting it as a personal psychological quirk. A
closer reading shows that he regards it as crucial to his style -- as I
have argued in my _Worlds in Regression_. Dann's book is a history of
synaesthesia/eideticism in modern thought ranging from the French
Decadents through New Age Hoo-Ha (my term--not Dann's). Synaesthesia has
been hailed by various offshoots of Romanticism as a mode of cognition
that breaks through the perceptual boundaries of reason into the
Ineffable. Dann offers a thorough survey of psychological studies of the
topic and, going well beyond the usual limits of a historian,
highlights overlooked older studies and under-regarded recent research.
Although many case studies are briefly described, the only one given in
depth is that of VN who is the subject of a 45-page chapter -- somewhat
confusingly entitled "The Gift." (It refers to synaesthesia--not the novel
of that name--and treats much of VN's work.) Dann argues that VN
exemplifies the "traditional" view that makes synaesthesia an opening into the
transcendent, specifically into the postustoronnost, or "otherworld."
More immediately, it accounts for the minutely detailed descriptions that
are characteristic of his style.
Dann writes lucidly and has a good grasp of both synaesthesia/eideticism
and of VN's work. If any complaint is to be made, it is that the
history/theory material is not so well integrated with the VN material as
one might like. Highly recommended.
D. Barton Johnson