Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004332, Wed, 18 Aug 1999 19:21:13 -0700

Subject
Query: Nabokov and Freud (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. The best general reference is the Jenifer Shute essay in V.
Alexandrov's GARLAND COMPANION TO V. NABOKOV. VN never gave a closely
reasoned explanation of his anti-Freudism but did write a short mocking
Russian essay on in the early 30s Freud. It has not been translated so
far as I recall.
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From: Luis Argandona <largandona@adimark.cl>

Maybe it is a matter you've already discussed a lot of times or maybe
many
nabokovians think it doesnt deserve discussion, but I ve always felt
great
curiosity about the reasons VN detested Freud, and treated him with irony
wherever he could in his novels and books. I havent been lucky in searching
articles that take on this point, besides an excerpt from an interview the
National Educational Television network conducted with VN in 1966, and that
I found in the NY Times web site dedicated to the 100 aniversary of VN. In
that interview VN said this about Freud: "I think he's crude, I think he's
medieval, and I don't want an elderly gentleman from Vienna with an
umbrella inflicting his dreams upon me. I don't have the dreams that he
discusses in his books. I don't see umbrellas in my dreams. Or balloons".
Maybe it's enough for those who know the Nabokov's arguments in depht, but
I'd thank a lot if somebody can give me some references where I could find
more information. If they are on the web, best, because I m from Chile, so
to get book in atoms is more difficult than in bytes.
Luis Argandona
largandona@adimark.cl


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