Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016250, Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:26:42 -0400

Subject
ANNC: N-L Online discussion of "Signs and Symbols," April 26 -
May 10, 2008
From
Date
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Hello everyone,

Some of you may remember that NABOKV-L engaged in a collaborative
reading of and commentary on VN's Transparent Things a few years ago.
Steve Blackwell and I thought that it would be interesting to try this
again, beginning with a group discussion of VN's famous story "Signs and
Symbols." Anthony Stadlen is hosting a seminar devoted to this story at
Regent's College, London, on Sunday, May 11, to honor the 60th
anniversary of the story's publication. (See his February posting on
this event, excerpted below.) With Anthony's blessing, we propose
spending the next two weeks, leading up to the seminar, in an extended
discussion of "Signs and Symbols" online.

So . . . we invite you to read and reread this very short but profoundly
puzzling story (pp. 594-599 in The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov) and
share your comments, questions, and annotations. As much as possible,
let's try to discuss the story from beginning to end, starting with the
first paragraph on Saturday, April 26. As the discussion develops,
Anthony will help point us to to crucial issues that will frame the
seminar meeting on May 11.

Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L

***

Anthony Stadlen wrote:

I am organising for Sunday 11 May 2008, at Regent's College Conference
Centre, London, a seminar celebrating the 60th anniversary of the
publication (on 15 May 1948 in The New Yorker) of Vladimir Nabokov's
short story "Signs and Symbols", described by Brian Boyd, the Nabokov
biographer and expert, as one of the greatest short stories ever
written. In recent years there have been a number of interpretations of
it, for example by Alexander Dolinin and Alexander Drescher. I have
myself suggested on NABOKV-L a new way of approaching the story with
implications for psychiatry and psychotherapy. I hope a number of
speakers will contribute to this seminar. Please contact me at
stadlen@aol.com if you wish to contribute a talk or paper, or attend.

The seminar is No. 127 in the Inner Circle Seminars, which I founded in
1996. For details see below.

INNER CIRCLE SEMINARS for 2008

Conducted by Anthony Stadlen unless otherwise stated.
Venue: Regent’/s College, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1.

Cost: students £88, others £110 for seminars IN ADVANCE (PLEASE NOTE
THAT THERE WILL BE A VERY EARLY DEADLINE FOR BOOKING EACH OF THE AUTUMN
SEMINARS); some bursaries; £5 for mothers-with-babies on 16 March;
reductions for a calendar or academic year’s seminars; no refunds unless
seminar cancelled.

Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, 'Oakleigh', 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22
7XE
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 Email: stadlen@aol.com

11 May 2008: Room C
Inner Circle Seminar No. 127
VLADIMIR NABOKOV
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS: 60 YEARS ON

Anthony Stadlen founded the Inner Circle Seminars in 1996, as an
interdisciplinary search for truth in psychotherapy and its foundations.
The seminars are held once a month, on Sundays, and last all day. Most
are conducted by Anthony Stadlen, but many have been conducted by
distinguished authorities in a number of disciplines, from all over the
world, including Alessandra Comini, Antony Flew, "Emma Gold", Tom
Greeves, David Harsent, John Heaton, Susannah Heschel, Sheila Kitzinger,
Claudia Koonz, Franz Maciejewski, Malcolm Macmillan, Rodney Mariner,
Sarah Menin, Nigel Reeves, Gitta Sereny, Sonu Shamdasani, Martti and
Ann-Helen Siirala, David Singmaster, Richard Skues, Naomi Stadlen, Peter
Swales, Thomas Szasz, Terry Tanner, Michael Tregenza, Antti Vihinen.

The seminars themselves have an international reputation. They study
thinkers whose work is of incalculable importance for the foundations of
psychotherapy and related disciplines: Binswanger, Bleuler, Boss, Buber,
Coleridge, Cooper, Esterson, Flew, Flournoy, Freud, Heaton, Heidegger,
Heschel, Husserl, Jung, Kierkegaard, Laing, Levinas, Lomas,
Merleau-Ponty, Myers, Nabokov, Patočka, Rogers, Schaler, Scheler,
Schiller, Siirala, Straus, Szasz, von Hildebrand. The seminars are
Continuingdisciplines to explore perplexities. You may attend any or all. You will
receive a certificate of attendance.

Anthony Stadlen has practised since 1970 as an
existential-phenomenological analyst. He is registered as an existential
psychotherapist by the UKCP (SEA, SPCRC) and as a psychoanalytic
psychotherapist by the BPC (LCP) and the UKCP (AIP). He is an Honorary
Visiting Fellow of the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent’s
College, London. He is a former Research Fellow of the Freud Museum,
London. His research has been sponsored by the Department of Philosophy
at the University of Essex and supported by the Nuffield Foundation. He
received the 2003 Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Services to the
Cause of Civil Liberties (professional category) from the Center for
Independent Thought, New York City.

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