Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016253, Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:16:04 -0300

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signs and symbols
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Signs and Symbols: page 597 "Age six - that was when he drew wonderful birds with human hands and feet, and suffered from insomnia like a grown-up man"

A tease? Winged humans are ...angels, seraphs!
( I must confess that, in the spirit of Isaac's delusional nephew, I first thought of "sirin" himself , then the oedipal sphynx or the gryphons!)

What does the association bt. Isaac and angel have to offer? The Biblical sacrifice when an angelic intervention saved Isaac from his father Abraham's knife in the nick of time. Murderous parents? A timely interruption... a phone-call?

In VN's own case, the call that interrupted him while reading Blok 's poetry to his mother was not auspicious.
In "Signs and Symbols" the insistent ring inquiring after Charlie, the incorrect dialing ( not O but 0) surprises either father or son in the grips of death.


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