Here we find another corpse ( beside Pamuk´s which you quoted today) speaking about time before and after, but from a perspective that is different from Nabokov´s: ( I quoted it at the begining of the note addressed to TN) and with a thrilling kind of "ironic twist" by Brazilian Machado de Assis:

 

"I hesitated for a while if I should start these  memoirs from the beginning or from the end, if I should first describe my birth or my demise (…)Properly speaking, I am not a deceased  author (…) my tomb was my second cradle.  Moses, who also wrote about his death, did not commence with it (…): a radical distinction between this book and the Pentateuch.

Machado de Assis, “Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas” (Chapter One, 1881).

 

 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: "Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello" <jansy@aetern.us>
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 1:37 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Speak Memory

Whoops! Sorry, Jansy. I don't think TN will react--only a small part of your
noye was involved. If you hear from TN, I'll square it with the editor.

Best, Don




Quoting Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>:

> Dear Don
> You wrote: "Thanks for cc-ing me Could you send me the Pascal
> reference?  -for personal  use only? "
> and then you sent it on to the List.
> I don´t mind it at all -  but I was worrying about The Nabokovian´s
> policies concerning articles which were subjected to them for
> evaluation!
> Jansy
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Donald B. Johnson
>   To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
>   Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 1:24 PM
>   Subject: Fwd: Re: Speak Memory
>
>
>   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."
>
>   ---------------------------------------------------------
>
>   ----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
>       Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 08:55:01 -0300
>       From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
>   Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
>    Subject: Re: Speak Memory
>         To: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
>
>   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
>     To: jansy@aetern.us
>     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
>
>   ----- 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 -----
>     From: Donald B. Johnson
>     To: jansy@aetern.us
>     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