On 11/08/2005, at 4:24 AM, Donald B. Johnson wrote:
EDNOTE:
Jansy's suggestion of Pascal re Speak, Memory's opening is another likely
candidate especially in that VN used Pascal elsewhere--especially in BEND
SINISTER. The "darkness/sliver of light/darkness" metaphor is not uncommon. In
the last few days I ran across it not only in Montaigne but in the recent
Turkish novel by Orhan Pamuk "My Name is Red". In Chapter One, page 1 in which
a corpse narrates "Before my birth there was infinite time, and after my death,
inexhaustible time. I never thought of it before: I'de been living luminously
between two eternities of darkness."
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 08:55:01 -0300
Subject: Re: Speak Memory
Dear Don,
I extracted this from my note: Marina Grishakova recognizes that "[t]he
Pascalean subtext and the fiction of the 'invisible observer' as the Author of
the World vs. the author of the text appears already in Nabokov's Russian
novels." She quotes the French Mathematician: "What will we do then, but
perceive the appearance of the middle of things, in an eternal despair of
knowing either their beginning or their end. All things proceed from the
Nothing, and are borne towards the Infinite" ("V. Nabokov's "Bend Sinister": A
Social Message or an Experiment with Time?" Sign Systems Studies 28, Tartu
University Press, 2000, pp. 242-263).
There is another author who introduced Pascal in connection with VN, but I must
return to search in my text later. This is what I found now and I´m in a rush
to the office...
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
From: Donald B. Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 12:59 AM
Subject: Fwd: Speak Memory
Dear Jansy-in-Rio,
Thanks for cc-ing me Could you send me the Pascal reference? -for
personal
use only? Did I send you The Last Tango essay? The passing reference to Rio is
in one version that I'm revising for publication. Best, Don
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 21:18:03 +0100
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
Subject: Speak Memory
Dear Dane Gill,
I found your query at the list, concerning Montaigne and Nabokov´s opening
chapter in Speak Memory.
I have been researching about the image of the cradle and the abyss and found
several other names linked to it. Boyd connects it with the first lines of
Pale Fire in his book on the novel. Also Priscilla Meyer studies it in her own
book on Pale Fire and refers to The Honorable Bede ( the image of a sparrow
crossing a lighted room while entering it from a dark winter night and
returning to it again ). I found interesting links also with Pascal.
I wrote a short note on this subject and I submitted it to The Nabokovian.
Although I am not allowed to divulge the text of note ( and I still don´t know
if it has been accepted for publication ) I think that I can offer you more
bibliographic indications if you should be interested in pursuing this matte
further, specially the references to Pascal. In that case, please ask me off
list in a mail and I´ll be glad to forward them to you.
Best,
Jansy
----- End forwarded message -----
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Dane Gill,
I found your query at the list, concerning Montaigne and Nabokov´s opening
chapter in Speak Memory.
I have been researching about the image of the cradle and the abyss and found
several other names linked to it. Boyd connects it with the first lines of
Pale Fire in his book on the novel. Also Priscilla Meyer studies it in her own
book on Pale Fire and refers to The Honorable Bede ( the image of a sparrow
crossing a lighted room while entering it from a dark winter night and
returning to it again ). I found interesting links also with Pascal.
I wrote a short note on this subject and I submitted it to The Nabokovian.
Although I am not allowed to divulge the text of note ( and I still don´t know
if it has been accepted for publication ) I think that I can offer you more
bibliographic indications if you should be interested in pursuing this matte
further, specially the references to Pascal. In that case, please ask me off
list in a mail and I´ll be glad to forward them to you.
Best,
Jansy
----- End forwarded message -----
Dear Don,
I extracted this from my note: Marina Grishakova recognizes that “[t]he Pascalean subtext and the fiction of the ‘invisible observer’ as the Author of the World vs. the author of the text appears already in Nabokov's Russian novels.” She quotes the French Mathematician: “What will we do then, but perceive the appearance of the middle of things, in an eternal despair of knowing either their beginning or their end. All things proceed from the Nothing, and are borne towards the Infinite” (“V. Nabokov’s “Bend Sinister”: A Social Message or an Experiment with Time?” Sign Systems Studies 28, Tartu University Press, 2000, pp. 242-263).
There is another author who introduced Pascal in connection with VN, but I must return to search in my text later. This is what I found now and I´m in a rush to the office...
Jansy
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 12:59 AM
Subject: Fwd: Speak Memory
Dear Jansy-in-Rio,
Thanks for cc-ing me Could you send me the Pascal reference? -for personal
use only? Did I send you The Last Tango essay? The passing reference to Rio is
in one version that I'm revising for publication. Best, Don
----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 21:18:03 +0100
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello
Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Subject: Speak Memory
To: pennyparkerpark@hotmail.com
Dear Dane Gill,
I found your query at the list, concerning Montaigne and Nabokov´s opening
chapter in Speak Memory.
I have been researching about the image of the cradle and the abyss and found
several other names linked to it. Boyd connects it with the first lines of
Pale Fire in his book on the novel. Also Priscilla Meyer studies it in her own
book on Pale Fire and refers to The Honorable Bede ( the image of a sparrow
crossing a lighted room while entering it from a dark winter night and
returning to it again ). I found interesting links also with Pascal.
I wrote a short note on this subject and I submitted it to The Nabokovian.
Although I am not allowed to divulge the text of note ( and I still don´t know
if it has been accepted for publication ) I think that I can offer you more
bibliographic indications if you should be interested in pursuing this matte
further, specially the references to Pascal. In that case, please ask me off
list in a mail and I´ll be glad to forward them to you.
Best,
Jansy
----- End forwarded message -----
Dear Dane Gill,
I found your query at the list, concerning Montaigne and Nabokov´s opening chapter in Speak Memory.
I have been researching about the image of the cradle and the abyss and found several other names linked to it. Boyd connects it with the first lines of Pale Fire in his book on the novel. Also Priscilla Meyer studies it in her own book on Pale Fire and refers to The Honorable Bede ( the image of a sparrow crossing a lighted room while entering it from a dark winter night and returning to it again ). I found interesting links also with Pascal.
I wrote a short note on this subject and I submitted it to The Nabokovian. Although I am not allowed to divulge the text of note ( and I still don´t know if it has been accepted for publication ) I think that I can offer you more bibliographic indications if you should be interested in pursuing this matte further, specially the references to Pascal. In that case, please ask me off list in a mail and I´ll be glad to forward them to you.
Best,
Jansy