Subject
VN & shared models of paradise <fwd> (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Anat Ben-Amos <abenam@essex.ac.uk>
I received this note from Alexey Vernitskii, University of Essex, and
thought it may be of interest to the List. I myself also agree with the
definition of Nabokov's kinds of paradise mentioned here, and would
like to offer an additional thought: it seems to me that N's "paradise
lost" has more to do with the literariness of his better works, while
the "paradise regained" is usually only a pale substitute to it. This
comparison fits well with imagination/reality dichotomy of the two
kinds of paradise: a memory vs. a possibly recaptured reality.
Anat Ben-Amos
Department of Literature
University of Essex
E-mail: abenam@essex.ac.uk
****************************************************************************
> An average Russian reader/writer thinks of VN as having two models
> of paradise:
> - paradise lost: childhood in Peterburg.
> - paradise regained: life by a warm sea in an abstract country.
>
> For instance, this structure of the universe was attributed to VN
> in a novel:
> Pelevin, V. _Chapaev i Pustota_, Znamia N4-5(1996). (see N4, page
> 47)
>
> This "kingdom by a warm sea" is usually associated with having a
> teenager girlfriend, although VN himself refered ironically in
> _Ada_ to his "eating too many green apples"; compare in Pelevin's
> novel, the character in 1918 answers his guest from 90's: "But he
> is in Crimea! And what has it to do with girls whatsoever?" - thus
> denying the first, urban, model of paradise, and getting rid of
> the sexual component in the second, sea-shore model.
>
> It is more interesting that VN shares these models of paradise
> with Russian writers of another generation. I.Brodskii writes
> (without any link to VN) that both he and E. Rein have the
> following models of paradise (here my translation ability fails):
>
> - paradise lost: "gorodskaia perspektiva, ukhodiashchaia v anilin,
> skoree vsego - Kamennoostrovskii prospekt v Leningrade, s ego
> vinegretom kontsa veka iz moderna i art nuvo... s obiazatel'nym
> mostom, s miatoi prostynei svintsovoi vody." - i ukazyvaetsia,
> chto eto vidit "setchatka podrostka".
> - paradise regained: "zaliv... s pal'mami, s baliustradami, s
> vkhodiashchim v bukhtu passazhirskim teplokhodom, s novymi
> linkorami, peredaiushchimi v stroiu fokstrot (sic!), publikoi
> promenada."
>
> This quotation is taken from:
> Brodskii, I. _Predislovie_, in: Rein, E. Izbrannoe, Tret'ia volna,
> Moscow-Paris-New York. (see page 11)
>
> Alexey Vernitskii
> -----------------------------------------------
> Department of Mathematics
> University of Essex
> Colchester UK
> CO4 3SQ
> E-mail: asvern@essex.ac.uk
> /* Daleko ot Moskvy */
>
I received this note from Alexey Vernitskii, University of Essex, and
thought it may be of interest to the List. I myself also agree with the
definition of Nabokov's kinds of paradise mentioned here, and would
like to offer an additional thought: it seems to me that N's "paradise
lost" has more to do with the literariness of his better works, while
the "paradise regained" is usually only a pale substitute to it. This
comparison fits well with imagination/reality dichotomy of the two
kinds of paradise: a memory vs. a possibly recaptured reality.
Anat Ben-Amos
Department of Literature
University of Essex
E-mail: abenam@essex.ac.uk
****************************************************************************
> An average Russian reader/writer thinks of VN as having two models
> of paradise:
> - paradise lost: childhood in Peterburg.
> - paradise regained: life by a warm sea in an abstract country.
>
> For instance, this structure of the universe was attributed to VN
> in a novel:
> Pelevin, V. _Chapaev i Pustota_, Znamia N4-5(1996). (see N4, page
> 47)
>
> This "kingdom by a warm sea" is usually associated with having a
> teenager girlfriend, although VN himself refered ironically in
> _Ada_ to his "eating too many green apples"; compare in Pelevin's
> novel, the character in 1918 answers his guest from 90's: "But he
> is in Crimea! And what has it to do with girls whatsoever?" - thus
> denying the first, urban, model of paradise, and getting rid of
> the sexual component in the second, sea-shore model.
>
> It is more interesting that VN shares these models of paradise
> with Russian writers of another generation. I.Brodskii writes
> (without any link to VN) that both he and E. Rein have the
> following models of paradise (here my translation ability fails):
>
> - paradise lost: "gorodskaia perspektiva, ukhodiashchaia v anilin,
> skoree vsego - Kamennoostrovskii prospekt v Leningrade, s ego
> vinegretom kontsa veka iz moderna i art nuvo... s obiazatel'nym
> mostom, s miatoi prostynei svintsovoi vody." - i ukazyvaetsia,
> chto eto vidit "setchatka podrostka".
> - paradise regained: "zaliv... s pal'mami, s baliustradami, s
> vkhodiashchim v bukhtu passazhirskim teplokhodom, s novymi
> linkorami, peredaiushchimi v stroiu fokstrot (sic!), publikoi
> promenada."
>
> This quotation is taken from:
> Brodskii, I. _Predislovie_, in: Rein, E. Izbrannoe, Tret'ia volna,
> Moscow-Paris-New York. (see page 11)
>
> Alexey Vernitskii
> -----------------------------------------------
> Department of Mathematics
> University of Essex
> Colchester UK
> CO4 3SQ
> E-mail: asvern@essex.ac.uk
> /* Daleko ot Moskvy */
>