Subject
ABSTRACTs: Priscilla Meyer's Pushkin & Nabokov Conference March
12-14
12-14
Date
Body
From: Priscilla Meyer <pmeyer@mail.wesleyan.edu>
---------------------
-------------------------------------
Marina von Hirsch
TRACING ANAGRAMMATIC TRIBUTES TO NABOKOV THROUGH BITOV'S TEXTS
This paper will explore just one but a very important aspect of
Bitov's long lasting and complex literary relationship with Nabokov -the
literary tributes to the latter that abound in the former's fictional and
nonfictional texts. Analyzing and comparing the texts of the two writers
one cannot help asking: What is it in Bitov's writings that enabled Boris
Nosik, the author of the first Russian biography of Nabokov, entitled _Mir
i dar Vladimira Nabokova_Ë ý to define Bitov as the most Nabokovian of
all Soviet Russian writers? Why does Bitov, who is committed to
individuality as an essential condition of writing, seem to be willing to
accept, and, moreover, to encourage the comparison of his work with
Nabokov's? Are the obvious affinities premeditated or coincidental? And
the list of such questions could be continued infinitely.
At the beginning of this literary relationship Bitov experienced a
disturbing complex of emotions known as anxiety of influence, to which
he repeatedly confessed in _Pushkin House_. He
later learned to deal with those emotions playfully. Unlike Nabokov who
claimed in one of the interviews included in "Strong Opinions" that he
"was immune to any literary influence," Bitov, on the contrary, seems
to be preoccupied with a self-conscious pursuit of his literary
antecedents, to the point of even creating them. Thus, according to
Sven Spieker, who identifies Nabokov's 1937 essay on Pushkin as "one of
the most pertinent pretexts" for Bitov's science fiction novella
"Pushkin's Photograph," the protagonist of Bitov's story is in search
of Pushkin, while its author, engaged in a struggle of influence,
appears to be in search of Nabokov whose "motif of the invisible or
inaccessible past" he appropriates. Bitov's relationship to Nabokov has
obviously been changing with time. Having started with anxiety of
influence, it has undergone a significant evolution which resulted in
the anxiety that there is no influence. Hence Bitov's literary
tributes to Nabokov which illuminate how important Nabokov's place is
in Bitov's hierarchy of classics.
It is true that Bitov might appropriate a device or an idea from
Nabokov, but he always puts them to original use. In fact Bitov
validates his independance by establishing intricate intertextual
dialogues with Nabokov which he conducts by way of parody, pastiche,
allusion, immitation, and, of course, by playing verbal games, among
which the anagrams appear to be a major source of inspiration shared by
the two writers.
Bitov's writings and pronouncements on Nabokov can be classified into
four major categories: 1) commentaries to different works that synthesize
fictional and critical discourse, like "The Commnetary" to
_Pushkin House_; 2) fictional texts with references
and allusions to Nabokov; 3) discursive texts dedicated specifically to
Nabokov; and 4) miscellaneous interviews and texts which mention Nabokov.
Decoding and tracing Bitov's anagrammatic tributes to Nabokov throughout
these texts will constitute the subject of this paper.
Once, asked by the interviewers for whom he wrote, Nabokov replied
that he wrote for "follow-artists, fellow-artists, and artists." In
all the three hypostatses named by Nabokov Bitov appears to be
Nabokov's ideal reader. As for their shared affection for anagrams
and verbal pyrotechnics, Bitov stands out above all as Nabokov's
"fellow artist." To quote from Ihab Hassan's influential book
_The Postmodern Turn_, "all of us devise cunning
ceremonies of ancestor worship." This is exactly what my paper is going
to be about - Bitov's anagrammatic tributes to Nabokov as the "cunning
ceremonies of ancestor worship."
-----------------------------------------
Gene Barabtarlo
ON THE MOVEMENT OF NABOKOV'S THEME
My doklad is a presentation of the first part of a large essay on the
general problem of the thematic arrangement and movement in Nabokov's
work not exclusively fiction and not even exclusively prose. The essay
was written for the Cambridge UP's anniversary collection, and as such was
meant to be "summarizing" and thus purposely generalized. In the first
part, I establish the capacity of the term ("theme") as it relates to
Nabokov, using Richard Levin's sound definition as a departure point.
Then I posit that the sheer number of themes _so defined_ is astonishingly
smaller in Nabokov than most readers suppose, and the rate of their
(modified) recurrence is much higher than they usually assume. The
principle that governs his thematic designs is ternary, yielding
recurrent descriptions of the "outer", "inner", and often "other" worlds. All
three are mobile, and Nabokov's "motives" are set in motion by the sort of
love that he describes in a memorable passage in his memoir. I take then up
for an illustrative study "Spring in Fialta". At the moment I have no idea
how this can be done in twenty minutes, and if no allowance is made, will
turn much of it into a conspectus.
-------------------------------------------------
Jane Grayson, University of London
INTERTEXTUALITY AND FAMILY LIKENESSES
My purpose in this paper is to explore points of connection between
Nabokov and Bulgakov in the general context of their engagement with the
Russian literary tradition and specifically with Pushkin and Gogol.
My starting point for these observations is the recognition by both
Russian and Western readers post 1991 that the separation between Emigre
and Soviet writing was by no means as great as it formerly appeared.
Nabokov and Bulgakov invite comparison for the stance the6 adopt in
relation to the literary tradition - the stance of the maverick, the
conseervative rebel. Whilst it is an essential point of my argument to
dem9nstrate the individuality of their use of Pushkin and Gogol I shall
consider certain common features:
1. Pushkin and Gogol are enlisted in the defence of 'living literature'
against the deadening weight of ideology and received opinion
2. They are employed as projections for investigation into the writing
process and the nature of art
3. They are adopted as personal models for action.
Here I look at the polarization of Pushkin and Gogol as images of order
and disorder and how this is echoed in the opposition of God and the
Devil in certain works. I proceed from a suggested case of actual
borrowing (Bulgakov's borrowing from Nabokov's 'Skazka' for the death of
Berlioz in 'Master i Margarita') to telling but tenuous resemblances and
shadows of resemblances (walks along paths and the power of the fiction
to make endings, while at the same time suggesting what a fragile
invention it all is).
---------------------------------------------------
Zinovy Zinik, BBC Russian Service, London
SELF-IMPRISONMENT IN CHILLON
A humorous semi-fictional account of Zinovy Zinik's attempt to meet and
conciliate Mrs. Nabokov in Montreaux in 1987 after she had accused
"Syntaxis" (a Paris-based Russian magazine, published by Mrs. Sinyavsky)
of copyright infringement, following the publication of extracts from
Vladimir Nabokov's "Strong Opinions" in Zinovy Zinik's translation. This
real life incident is taken up by Zinik to illuminate the complexity and
uneasiness of relationships between different generations of eémige
writers, and siege mentality pervading the scene, which geographically
connected with the names of Byron and Conrad.
--------------------------------------------
Priscilla Meyer
Russian department
Wesleyan University
Middletown CT 06459
(860) 685-3127
http://www.wesleyan.edu/~pmeyer/index.html
---------------------
-------------------------------------
Marina von Hirsch
TRACING ANAGRAMMATIC TRIBUTES TO NABOKOV THROUGH BITOV'S TEXTS
This paper will explore just one but a very important aspect of
Bitov's long lasting and complex literary relationship with Nabokov -the
literary tributes to the latter that abound in the former's fictional and
nonfictional texts. Analyzing and comparing the texts of the two writers
one cannot help asking: What is it in Bitov's writings that enabled Boris
Nosik, the author of the first Russian biography of Nabokov, entitled _Mir
i dar Vladimira Nabokova_Ë ý to define Bitov as the most Nabokovian of
all Soviet Russian writers? Why does Bitov, who is committed to
individuality as an essential condition of writing, seem to be willing to
accept, and, moreover, to encourage the comparison of his work with
Nabokov's? Are the obvious affinities premeditated or coincidental? And
the list of such questions could be continued infinitely.
At the beginning of this literary relationship Bitov experienced a
disturbing complex of emotions known as anxiety of influence, to which
he repeatedly confessed in _Pushkin House_. He
later learned to deal with those emotions playfully. Unlike Nabokov who
claimed in one of the interviews included in "Strong Opinions" that he
"was immune to any literary influence," Bitov, on the contrary, seems
to be preoccupied with a self-conscious pursuit of his literary
antecedents, to the point of even creating them. Thus, according to
Sven Spieker, who identifies Nabokov's 1937 essay on Pushkin as "one of
the most pertinent pretexts" for Bitov's science fiction novella
"Pushkin's Photograph," the protagonist of Bitov's story is in search
of Pushkin, while its author, engaged in a struggle of influence,
appears to be in search of Nabokov whose "motif of the invisible or
inaccessible past" he appropriates. Bitov's relationship to Nabokov has
obviously been changing with time. Having started with anxiety of
influence, it has undergone a significant evolution which resulted in
the anxiety that there is no influence. Hence Bitov's literary
tributes to Nabokov which illuminate how important Nabokov's place is
in Bitov's hierarchy of classics.
It is true that Bitov might appropriate a device or an idea from
Nabokov, but he always puts them to original use. In fact Bitov
validates his independance by establishing intricate intertextual
dialogues with Nabokov which he conducts by way of parody, pastiche,
allusion, immitation, and, of course, by playing verbal games, among
which the anagrams appear to be a major source of inspiration shared by
the two writers.
Bitov's writings and pronouncements on Nabokov can be classified into
four major categories: 1) commentaries to different works that synthesize
fictional and critical discourse, like "The Commnetary" to
_Pushkin House_; 2) fictional texts with references
and allusions to Nabokov; 3) discursive texts dedicated specifically to
Nabokov; and 4) miscellaneous interviews and texts which mention Nabokov.
Decoding and tracing Bitov's anagrammatic tributes to Nabokov throughout
these texts will constitute the subject of this paper.
Once, asked by the interviewers for whom he wrote, Nabokov replied
that he wrote for "follow-artists, fellow-artists, and artists." In
all the three hypostatses named by Nabokov Bitov appears to be
Nabokov's ideal reader. As for their shared affection for anagrams
and verbal pyrotechnics, Bitov stands out above all as Nabokov's
"fellow artist." To quote from Ihab Hassan's influential book
_The Postmodern Turn_, "all of us devise cunning
ceremonies of ancestor worship." This is exactly what my paper is going
to be about - Bitov's anagrammatic tributes to Nabokov as the "cunning
ceremonies of ancestor worship."
-----------------------------------------
Gene Barabtarlo
ON THE MOVEMENT OF NABOKOV'S THEME
My doklad is a presentation of the first part of a large essay on the
general problem of the thematic arrangement and movement in Nabokov's
work not exclusively fiction and not even exclusively prose. The essay
was written for the Cambridge UP's anniversary collection, and as such was
meant to be "summarizing" and thus purposely generalized. In the first
part, I establish the capacity of the term ("theme") as it relates to
Nabokov, using Richard Levin's sound definition as a departure point.
Then I posit that the sheer number of themes _so defined_ is astonishingly
smaller in Nabokov than most readers suppose, and the rate of their
(modified) recurrence is much higher than they usually assume. The
principle that governs his thematic designs is ternary, yielding
recurrent descriptions of the "outer", "inner", and often "other" worlds. All
three are mobile, and Nabokov's "motives" are set in motion by the sort of
love that he describes in a memorable passage in his memoir. I take then up
for an illustrative study "Spring in Fialta". At the moment I have no idea
how this can be done in twenty minutes, and if no allowance is made, will
turn much of it into a conspectus.
-------------------------------------------------
Jane Grayson, University of London
INTERTEXTUALITY AND FAMILY LIKENESSES
My purpose in this paper is to explore points of connection between
Nabokov and Bulgakov in the general context of their engagement with the
Russian literary tradition and specifically with Pushkin and Gogol.
My starting point for these observations is the recognition by both
Russian and Western readers post 1991 that the separation between Emigre
and Soviet writing was by no means as great as it formerly appeared.
Nabokov and Bulgakov invite comparison for the stance the6 adopt in
relation to the literary tradition - the stance of the maverick, the
conseervative rebel. Whilst it is an essential point of my argument to
dem9nstrate the individuality of their use of Pushkin and Gogol I shall
consider certain common features:
1. Pushkin and Gogol are enlisted in the defence of 'living literature'
against the deadening weight of ideology and received opinion
2. They are employed as projections for investigation into the writing
process and the nature of art
3. They are adopted as personal models for action.
Here I look at the polarization of Pushkin and Gogol as images of order
and disorder and how this is echoed in the opposition of God and the
Devil in certain works. I proceed from a suggested case of actual
borrowing (Bulgakov's borrowing from Nabokov's 'Skazka' for the death of
Berlioz in 'Master i Margarita') to telling but tenuous resemblances and
shadows of resemblances (walks along paths and the power of the fiction
to make endings, while at the same time suggesting what a fragile
invention it all is).
---------------------------------------------------
Zinovy Zinik, BBC Russian Service, London
SELF-IMPRISONMENT IN CHILLON
A humorous semi-fictional account of Zinovy Zinik's attempt to meet and
conciliate Mrs. Nabokov in Montreaux in 1987 after she had accused
"Syntaxis" (a Paris-based Russian magazine, published by Mrs. Sinyavsky)
of copyright infringement, following the publication of extracts from
Vladimir Nabokov's "Strong Opinions" in Zinovy Zinik's translation. This
real life incident is taken up by Zinik to illuminate the complexity and
uneasiness of relationships between different generations of eémige
writers, and siege mentality pervading the scene, which geographically
connected with the names of Byron and Conrad.
--------------------------------------------
Priscilla Meyer
Russian department
Wesleyan University
Middletown CT 06459
(860) 685-3127
http://www.wesleyan.edu/~pmeyer/index.html