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No more sitting on defence
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[EDNote: I'm traveling and having connection problems, so postings may be intermittent. ~SB]
-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Friedman [mailto:jerry_friedman@yahoo.com]
Sent: Fri 3/27/2009 1:25 AM
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Cc: jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] No more sitting on defence
SKB: > 1. p. 537 to Alfred Appel, Nov 8 1974 re AA's book
> N's Dark Cinema (OUP 1974)
...
> " ... you connect me now and then with films and
> actors whom I have
> never seen in my life (I still do not quite know, e.g., who
> this James Bond' is*) ..."
>
> * One can allow for some VN teasing here, perhaps?
...
Or a literal use of "not quite", compatible with having
some impression that (for example) James Bond was some
kind of super-spy.
> 2. p. 212 letter to Jacob Epstein (Doubleday Editor), March
> 24 1957
>
>
> This letter (which must have been widely analyzed by many,
> but may be
> new or deemed irrelevant to Carolyn as far as I can judge)
> reveals VN's first draft ideas for PALE FIRE
...
> "My creature's quest is centered in the problem of
> heretofore and
> hereafter, and it is I may say beautifully _solved_ [my
> emphasis]"
...
> What does VN mean by "beautifully _solved_?"
The solution I've been pointing out, of course.
The letter corroborates my reading at several points.
Unfortunately, it doesn't prove anything, as the final
novel is quite different, and one can always say VN thought
better of that idea.
> Aye, there's the rub!** If the tackled
> problem is the eternal "Is there Life after
> Death?" a depend! We
> wouldn't expect a Yes or No answer, would we?
"Am I invisible? Am I inaudible? Do I merely festoon the
e-mail list with my presence?" (Apologies to Christopher
Fry.) Whatever we expect, we have a Yes. Véra Nabokov
confirmed that the will-o-the-wisp was Aunt Maud with a
message from beyond the grave (Boyd, /Nabokov's /Pale
Fire//, p. 110 and note 6), as we know also from its
aphasia. There's an existence proof (for the fictional
world of PF).
Nabokov's characters may die in vain, but they live on
in Vane--and in the Pale Fire that reflects the Empyrean
VN intuited above us.
Jerry Friedman
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Friedman [mailto:jerry_friedman@yahoo.com]
Sent: Fri 3/27/2009 1:25 AM
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Cc: jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] No more sitting on defence
SKB: > 1. p. 537 to Alfred Appel, Nov 8 1974 re AA's book
> N's Dark Cinema (OUP 1974)
...
> " ... you connect me now and then with films and
> actors whom I have
> never seen in my life (I still do not quite know, e.g., who
> this James Bond' is*) ..."
>
> * One can allow for some VN teasing here, perhaps?
...
Or a literal use of "not quite", compatible with having
some impression that (for example) James Bond was some
kind of super-spy.
> 2. p. 212 letter to Jacob Epstein (Doubleday Editor), March
> 24 1957
>
>
> This letter (which must have been widely analyzed by many,
> but may be
> new or deemed irrelevant to Carolyn as far as I can judge)
> reveals VN's first draft ideas for PALE FIRE
...
> "My creature's quest is centered in the problem of
> heretofore and
> hereafter, and it is I may say beautifully _solved_ [my
> emphasis]"
...
> What does VN mean by "beautifully _solved_?"
The solution I've been pointing out, of course.
The letter corroborates my reading at several points.
Unfortunately, it doesn't prove anything, as the final
novel is quite different, and one can always say VN thought
better of that idea.
> Aye, there's the rub!** If the tackled
> problem is the eternal "Is there Life after
> Death?" a depend! We
> wouldn't expect a Yes or No answer, would we?
"Am I invisible? Am I inaudible? Do I merely festoon the
e-mail list with my presence?" (Apologies to Christopher
Fry.) Whatever we expect, we have a Yes. Véra Nabokov
confirmed that the will-o-the-wisp was Aunt Maud with a
message from beyond the grave (Boyd, /Nabokov's /Pale
Fire//, p. 110 and note 6), as we know also from its
aphasia. There's an existence proof (for the fictional
world of PF).
Nabokov's characters may die in vain, but they live on
in Vane--and in the Pale Fire that reflects the Empyrean
VN intuited above us.
Jerry Friedman
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/
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/