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Re: Idle note on Sebastian (Knight)
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This comment is the equivalent of a spectator rushing from the stands onto the court, racquet in hand. (Please nobody taser me!)
Here's why I don't think Sebastian and V. are in fact the same physical person. When Sebastian's mother dies, she bequeaths a small income to Sebastian. Likewise, when Sebastian dies, he passes on to V. that same small income. V. mentions something about this inheritance in the novel's first few chapters, but V.'s earlier (i.e., before the inheritance) dire cash situation doesn't come clear until the end of the novel. So whatever else Don's "pseudo-etymology" may point to, I don't think it means that V. and Sebastian are the same person. Put another way, the inheritance means (at least to this reader) that V. and Sebastian are the same person in the same way that Sebastian and his mother are the same person -- psychologically similar, emotionally similar, motivationally similar, etc.
With that .02, I'll head back to the stands!
Matt Evans
On May 22, 2010, at 12:36 PM, Don Johnson wrote:
> Food for (s)peculation.
>
> "I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we are both someone neither of us knows"
>
> None of the historical persons or places evoked by the name
> seem to be obviously connected to VN's novel (see www below). In an idle moment it ocurred to me that the first syllable of the name echoes the Russian pronoun SEBYA meaning "one's self ." Given the tangled relationship between the narrating half -brother and his brother Sebastain, I wonder if this pseudo-etymology sheds any light on the novel.
>
> Tennis, anyone?
>
>
>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol#Etymology_of_the_name
> Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
> Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.
>
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Here's why I don't think Sebastian and V. are in fact the same physical person. When Sebastian's mother dies, she bequeaths a small income to Sebastian. Likewise, when Sebastian dies, he passes on to V. that same small income. V. mentions something about this inheritance in the novel's first few chapters, but V.'s earlier (i.e., before the inheritance) dire cash situation doesn't come clear until the end of the novel. So whatever else Don's "pseudo-etymology" may point to, I don't think it means that V. and Sebastian are the same person. Put another way, the inheritance means (at least to this reader) that V. and Sebastian are the same person in the same way that Sebastian and his mother are the same person -- psychologically similar, emotionally similar, motivationally similar, etc.
With that .02, I'll head back to the stands!
Matt Evans
On May 22, 2010, at 12:36 PM, Don Johnson wrote:
> Food for (s)peculation.
>
> "I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we are both someone neither of us knows"
>
> None of the historical persons or places evoked by the name
> seem to be obviously connected to VN's novel (see www below). In an idle moment it ocurred to me that the first syllable of the name echoes the Russian pronoun SEBYA meaning "one's self ." Given the tangled relationship between the narrating half -brother and his brother Sebastain, I wonder if this pseudo-etymology sheds any light on the novel.
>
> Tennis, anyone?
>
>
>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol#Etymology_of_the_name
> Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
> Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.
>
SUMMIT REALTY, INC.
801-225-7272 wk
801-367-7077 cell
801-221-0900 fax
WWW.VARLIANO.COM
WWW.SEEUTAHHOMES.COM
***We Sell A Home Every Other Day! Is Today Your Lucky Day?***
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/