Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008100, Sun, 13 Jul 2003 19:05:35 -0700

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Fw: Nabokov Mention In _Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered_
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> From _PDR_ by Lester Grinspoon and James B. Bakalar (1979)
>
> Comparing VN to the mnemonist in Luria's monograph, "The Mind of a
> Mnemonist:"
>
> "In the writer Vladimir Nabokov, some of the same mental peculiarities (in
a
> less disabling form) were accompanied by literary genius. Nabokov's novels
> and memoirs display unusual intensity and precision of visual observation,
> disdain for generalities and abstractions, and almost total visual recall
of
> scenes from the distant past. He also confesses to experiencing
synesthesia
> and vivid hypnagogic imagery. The gift that proved almost a curse to
Luria's
> mnemonist was a blessing to Nabokov." (p.255)

EDNOTE. Interesting. I wrote about synaesthesia and its possible affect on
his writing in the early 70s. Reprinted as chapter I of my _Worlds in
Regression: Some Novels of VN"