Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010981, Sat, 29 Jan 2005 10:49:28 -0800

Subject
Re: a sliver of light in-between two eternities of darkness."
Date
Body

I'm grateful to Carolyn for providing the reference to Beckett. VNs phrase
had always sung in my head with on odd familiarity. But I had read Godot
about 20 years before reading Speak, and could never place it. I think,
though, that the image or idea has a much earlier provenance and probably is
one of the universal thoughts or images. Isn't a similar image in Beowulf,
with a bird flying in one window of the mead hall and then flying out a
window on the other side?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 2:02 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: a sliver of light in-between two eternities of darkness."


> ----- Forwarded message from chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu -----
> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 16:41:11 -0800
> From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
>
>
>
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (18 lines)
> > ------------------
> > "They give birth astride a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's
> > night once more." *
> >
> > "The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our
> > existence is
> > but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. ... " **
> >
> >
> > I've always thought this an almost unbelievable coincidence of similar
> > expressions.
> >
> > Carolyn
> >
> >
> >
> > * Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett)
> > ** Speak Memory (VN)
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----

----- End forwarded message -----