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Re: [NABOKOV - LIST] : signs and symbols, chapter three and four
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Why does the nurse tell them "brightly"? ("... a nurse they knew, and did
not care for, appeared at last and brightly explained that he had again
attempted to take his life.") Each sentence or vignette is back to back
with cruelty, pessimism and only visions of hope in the form of gullibility,
dejection, and analyses in the mother's thoughts of what hope and goodness
are hopelessly up against.
The nurse and social institutions don't get a break in this story.
One of the mysteries of the story: Why was the mother so sure she knew why
the caller was calling the wrong number ("I will tell you what you are
doing") and what is the significance, to those who suffer from referential
mania, of "you are turning the letter O instead of zero"?
Barrie Karp
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not care for, appeared at last and brightly explained that he had again
attempted to take his life.") Each sentence or vignette is back to back
with cruelty, pessimism and only visions of hope in the form of gullibility,
dejection, and analyses in the mother's thoughts of what hope and goodness
are hopelessly up against.
The nurse and social institutions don't get a break in this story.
One of the mysteries of the story: Why was the mother so sure she knew why
the caller was calling the wrong number ("I will tell you what you are
doing") and what is the significance, to those who suffer from referential
mania, of "you are turning the letter O instead of zero"?
Barrie Karp
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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