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Re: Vladimir Nabokov is My Boyfriend
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GV: Thank you, Jansy, for your kind words about my work. I think your last
assessment ("...your "originals" are all too mortal, and that they demand
access to eternity through endless repetition (copies)") is quite correct,
although I have never put it in those words. I am preoccupied witha kind of
personal real-ness- like when you meet someone and they tell you their name,
but in your mind, they will always have a different, more suitable name, the
one you came up with moments before they introduced themselves. So in my
drawings, although they don't really look like him, or resemble one another
more than any set of distant cousins might, I am searching for some "real"
moment, born out of the encounter between the eye looking at his photograph
and the hand making a line.
As for "Cold Souls"- it sure got some pretty bad reviews, mostly people
called it "Being Paul Giamatti", a riff on "Being John Malkovitch",
referring to the theme of getting into one's own mind. I thought it was
quite good, but I'll let you judge for yourself. The connections I found
were quite small things, but it delighted me to find them, since I'm always
happy to discover some little Nabokov wink in someone else's work. Firstly,
in the movie, GIammatti's problems all begin when he is rehersing to play
"Uncle Vanya" (Vanya is the love interest's pet name in The Eye) and finds
the role too taxing on his delicate soul, moving him to seek a storage space
for it so he can go about his job without being too tortured by it. Then
there is The Eye's protagonist's referrence to the souls he sees or inhabits
as "cold" or "radiant", which I thought was a direct influence to the
movie's title.
On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Jansy <jansy@aetern.us> wrote:
> *Gabriela Vaisencher*: *"...I am a new arrival to the Nabokov
> group...Barbara Wyllie told me about it after we exchanged emails about a
> theory I had on the relationship between The Eye and Sophie Barthes' 2009
> film, Cold Souls. (Has anyone seen it? I think The Eye was a big influence
> on it, but it is mentioned nowhere in relation to the movie. Any thoughts?)
> Also, I am a visual artist and have been using Nabokov's image in my
> drawings here and there. That's actually how I got in touch with Wyllie, I
> had gotten her book about him and was using the photos in it for my drawings
> and then decided to contact her. I'd like to share with everyone my work and
> would welcome any comments: **http://gabrielavainsencher.com/?cat=3*<http://gabrielavainsencher.com/?cat=3>
> * -
> *
> *JM:* Sophie Barthe's movie was shown at the Rio Movie Festival, in 2009,
> and most of the critical reviews I read were unfavourable.
> One suggested a mix of Spike Jonze with Charlie Kaufman's "I want to
> be John Malkovich",1999 and CK' and Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine Of The
> Spotless Mind," 2003. Another critic added even more names ( I quote, in
> translation: "As if Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Roy
> Andersson ("Du Levande," 2007) e Michel Gondry] had all participated in a
> great cinematographical orgy"). Another included Stephen Frears run amok
> sequel to "Pretty, Dirty Things," 2002 and mentioned Nicolai Gogol ("souls"
> used as merchandise). It's true, though, that Nabokov is not as widely
> read in Brazil as he is in America and Europe and therefore it would be a
> surprise to find a reference to him and any specific novel of his. As you
> see it, where lies "the relationship between The Eye and Sophie Barthes'
> 2009 film, Cold Souls"?
>
> I greatly admired your works found at
> http://gabrielavainsencher.com/?cat=3 , the soft texture of tissue paper
> and intense blues and purples, the agile line, the Magritte irony and a
> surly Nabokov.
> You chose particularly evanescent materials for your original creation. I
> wonder if your intention has been to present particularly frail sets of
> "souls" - or were they intended to suggest the easily
> decomposed human "bodies"? My sensation (that's the only thing I can write
> about, not being a painter or draughtsperson myself) is that your
> "originals" are all too mortal, and that they demand access to eternity
> through endless repetition (copies).
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
--
Gabriela Vainsencher
+1 917 655 3173
www.gabrielavainsencher.com
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/
assessment ("...your "originals" are all too mortal, and that they demand
access to eternity through endless repetition (copies)") is quite correct,
although I have never put it in those words. I am preoccupied witha kind of
personal real-ness- like when you meet someone and they tell you their name,
but in your mind, they will always have a different, more suitable name, the
one you came up with moments before they introduced themselves. So in my
drawings, although they don't really look like him, or resemble one another
more than any set of distant cousins might, I am searching for some "real"
moment, born out of the encounter between the eye looking at his photograph
and the hand making a line.
As for "Cold Souls"- it sure got some pretty bad reviews, mostly people
called it "Being Paul Giamatti", a riff on "Being John Malkovitch",
referring to the theme of getting into one's own mind. I thought it was
quite good, but I'll let you judge for yourself. The connections I found
were quite small things, but it delighted me to find them, since I'm always
happy to discover some little Nabokov wink in someone else's work. Firstly,
in the movie, GIammatti's problems all begin when he is rehersing to play
"Uncle Vanya" (Vanya is the love interest's pet name in The Eye) and finds
the role too taxing on his delicate soul, moving him to seek a storage space
for it so he can go about his job without being too tortured by it. Then
there is The Eye's protagonist's referrence to the souls he sees or inhabits
as "cold" or "radiant", which I thought was a direct influence to the
movie's title.
On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Jansy <jansy@aetern.us> wrote:
> *Gabriela Vaisencher*: *"...I am a new arrival to the Nabokov
> group...Barbara Wyllie told me about it after we exchanged emails about a
> theory I had on the relationship between The Eye and Sophie Barthes' 2009
> film, Cold Souls. (Has anyone seen it? I think The Eye was a big influence
> on it, but it is mentioned nowhere in relation to the movie. Any thoughts?)
> Also, I am a visual artist and have been using Nabokov's image in my
> drawings here and there. That's actually how I got in touch with Wyllie, I
> had gotten her book about him and was using the photos in it for my drawings
> and then decided to contact her. I'd like to share with everyone my work and
> would welcome any comments: **http://gabrielavainsencher.com/?cat=3*<http://gabrielavainsencher.com/?cat=3>
> * -
> *
> *JM:* Sophie Barthe's movie was shown at the Rio Movie Festival, in 2009,
> and most of the critical reviews I read were unfavourable.
> One suggested a mix of Spike Jonze with Charlie Kaufman's "I want to
> be John Malkovich",1999 and CK' and Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine Of The
> Spotless Mind," 2003. Another critic added even more names ( I quote, in
> translation: "As if Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Roy
> Andersson ("Du Levande," 2007) e Michel Gondry] had all participated in a
> great cinematographical orgy"). Another included Stephen Frears run amok
> sequel to "Pretty, Dirty Things," 2002 and mentioned Nicolai Gogol ("souls"
> used as merchandise). It's true, though, that Nabokov is not as widely
> read in Brazil as he is in America and Europe and therefore it would be a
> surprise to find a reference to him and any specific novel of his. As you
> see it, where lies "the relationship between The Eye and Sophie Barthes'
> 2009 film, Cold Souls"?
>
> I greatly admired your works found at
> http://gabrielavainsencher.com/?cat=3 , the soft texture of tissue paper
> and intense blues and purples, the agile line, the Magritte irony and a
> surly Nabokov.
> You chose particularly evanescent materials for your original creation. I
> wonder if your intention has been to present particularly frail sets of
> "souls" - or were they intended to suggest the easily
> decomposed human "bodies"? My sensation (that's the only thing I can write
> about, not being a painter or draughtsperson myself) is that your
> "originals" are all too mortal, and that they demand access to eternity
> through endless repetition (copies).
> Search the archive<http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en> Contact
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> Visit "Nabokov
> Online Journal" <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Visit Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> View
> Nabokv-L Policies <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm> Manage
> subscription options <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/>
>
> All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
> co-editors.
>
--
Gabriela Vainsencher
+1 917 655 3173
www.gabrielavainsencher.com
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/