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From: D. Walker <dlwalker@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Appended below are the abstracts of the three papers that will be
presented at:
THE NABOKOV SOCIETY PANEL
AT THE ANNUAL
AMERICAN LITERATURE ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
MAY 27 - 30, 1999
PANEL TITLE: "Appropriating Nabokov"
Chair: Lynne Walker (University of Washington)
_______________________________________________________________________________
Anita Kondoyanidi
University of Alaska Anchorage
Spatial Reading of Vladimir Nabokov's Novels: Nabokov's *Ada*
Reading is not a simple activity and current attention to this
process by reader-response critics, who think that readers make literary
meaning happen, corroborates this assumption. In his *Lectures on
Literature* Vladimir Nabokov devotes much attention to the phenomenon of
good reading. By good reading he meant something quite definite and
lucid -- a reader should approach books not only with his or her brain
but with the spine as well. To put it in simpler terms -- the readers
must work in order to reach the highest state of discovery and to feel
the thrill of penetration into the unknown. His novels demonstrate such
complexity because they consist of numerous references,
cross-references, not to mention elaborate puzzles. The readers have to
grope for knowledge tenaciously, examining and analyzing numerous and
distinct levels of the novels' structures. In other words, Nabokov's
novels are best read spatially. The readers construct the deduced
meaning of the novel after several rereadings, connecting disparate
parts and making sense of references and cross-references. This
construction is very intricate, for making meaning of "art at its
greatest," according to Nabokov, is a complicated process, just as art
is complex and deceitful. For him no matter how close one comes to
finding the truth about nature or art, there is much more hidden behind
the apparent layer of discovery for deeper knowledge always means deeper
mystery. This mystery, however, can be solved by employing spatial
reading, an idea articulated by Joseph Frank in the sixties. He has
pointed out this modern predilection for spatial form in literature, and
it seems widely accepted by postmodernists, "producing" a plethora of
fragmentary narratives in contemporary novels. In this sense, spatial
reading of Nabokov's novels coincides with the incessant postmodern
inclination towards fragmentation and spatiality within the novels. I
should admit, however, that to assign Nabokov to any literary school,
perhaps, would be a major mistake. Nabokov, a writer with strong
principles and opinions, always adamantly disagreed with the human
tendency to generalize and label. He never belonged to any literary
school or called himself a product of literary movements. Respecting
Nabokov's strong views, I would like to demonstrate how some of his
writings contain elements which in the literary critical terms of the
twentieth century would be called modernist and postmodernist. In turn,
I suggest that the study of Nabokov's writings can enrich and solidify
some of the concepts which became incipient in modernism and blossomed
in postmodernism. The notion of spatial form is one of them.
After the first reading of *Ada* the readers usually experience the
state of deep confusion or deceptive clarity because the design and
meaning of the novel can only be perceived after numerous rereadings.
The meaning and structure of the novel, which Nabokov always composed
before actual writing, are quite labyrinthine by virtue of the deceptive
strategies and intricate style he uses in his novel. In order to
comprehend the meaning of *Ada*, or to attempt to grasp the purposefulness
of Nabokov's patterns, readers need to peruse the five parts of *Ada* with
absolute attention, connecting the fragments, the recurrent motifs,
different parts of the whole story, and then, indeed, the discernment of
the novel will deepen. Brian Boyd writes, "It has been appreciated too
that Nabokov's style is unique not only on the surface of the prose but
at a more profound level of the reading experiences -- unique, that is,
in the challenge that exists between author and reader and in the
rewards awaiting the reader who can meet the challenges that author
prepares" (Boyd, *Nabokov's Ada:The Place of Consciousness*).
______________________________________________________________________________
Lara Delage-Toriel
Cambridge University
"Private Property: No Trespassing", or why feminists haven't yet
trodden on Nabokov's grounds.
'Lector in fabula': in the last two decades, critics have increasingly
emphasized the pivotal role of the reader alongside the author in the
production of the text. On the premise that a work of literature is never
a fully achieved product but an open and infinitely reversible creation,
critics often conceive reading as the culmination of the creative elan.
Yet "to say that a text is potentially endless does not mean that every
act of interpretation may have a fortunate end" (Umberto Eco, *The Limits
of Interpretation*). According to Eco, "the limits of interpretation
coincide with the rights of the text". The forensic tone of this assertion
indicates the potential dangers associated with the reading act, a
fortiori when it is critical: a literary work once published may well owe
its immortality to its readers, but it is also alienated from its author
and hence becomes the shared property of its myriad readers. Indeed,
reading involves an appropriating gesture, one that affixes the reader's
own set of values to the text and seals its meaning with the stamp of
subjective interpretation. In the last two decades, feminists have made it
one of their chief goals to reread the male canons of Western literature
by dismantling the 'smug misogynist' discourse underlying their works.
This venture is typically an act of appropriation since the feminist
reader claims to hold the key to the hermeneutics of the text. Nabokov,
who emphatically denies women the right to narrate in his novels,
relegating them instead to the status of objects (of art, desire,contempt,
representation...), would seem an ideal target for such readers. Yet,
even after the *Lolita* scandal, only one feminist, Linda Kauffman, has
attempted to reread Nabokov, as if he were immune to such assaults. In a
recent article, 'The White Man's Guest', Colleen Kennedy reflects upon
the feminist silence surrounding *Lolita* and locates its source in
Nabokov's own attitude, which pre-empts such readings in the foreword and
afterword that frame the novel. My contention is that Nabokov was acutely
aware of the dangers of appropriation, and responded preventively by
enclosing within the package of many of his novels a 'reader's instruction
manual' and by erecting signposts through various narrative strategies to
stop readers from trespassing onto his creative world in a way which would
spoil its landscape. My aim is to study some of his most prominent devices
and offer a critique of Linda's Kauffman's article in order to explain why
feminists have failed to appropriate Nabokov.
______________________________________________________________________________
Elena Rakhimova-Sommers
University of Rochester
The "Olgalized" Otherworld of 'Bend Sinister'.
Daring to go beyond Nabokov's specific instructions on how to
approach *Bend Sinister*, this paper examines the novel " for the sake of
the pages about David and his [mother]", "the beating of [Olga's] loving
heart", the throbbing presence of which is felt throughout the novel.
Merging with iridescent "potustoronnost'" upon her death, Olga
becomes (italicised) the otherworld charging it with her special presence,
feminizing it, in a real sense, "Olgalizing " it. Throughout the novel
the "Olgalized" otherworld will appear to Krug and David in different
shapes and forms carefully, but not unnoticeably disguised, trying to
"steer [its] favourite[s] in the best direction", bringing them comfort,
warning them of danger and showing that love survives death.
In an attempt to come to terms with the excruciating
verisimilitude of the torture and murder of the eight year old David, the
paper explores the symbolism behind Chardin's famous "The House of Cards"
placed by Olga in her husband's study before her death. One of Chardin's
most moving images of childhood, the portrait embodies the uncertainty and
fragility of life itself, emphasizing the precariousness of our existence.
Meant to act as a breath of wind in its most otherworldly sense, the
portrait is seen as Olga's own front cover illustration of the novel, in
itself an initiation into Nabokov's universe, where love, compassion and
tenderness are the norm.
With references to Nabokov's later novel, *Pnin*, the paper also
discusses Nabokov's notions of love as "redemption from hellish despair",
and compassion - two main passwords into the writer's world of "eternal
caress".
_______________________________________________________________________________
Appended below are the abstracts of the three papers that will be
presented at:
THE NABOKOV SOCIETY PANEL
AT THE ANNUAL
AMERICAN LITERATURE ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
MAY 27 - 30, 1999
PANEL TITLE: "Appropriating Nabokov"
Chair: Lynne Walker (University of Washington)
_______________________________________________________________________________
Anita Kondoyanidi
University of Alaska Anchorage
Spatial Reading of Vladimir Nabokov's Novels: Nabokov's *Ada*
Reading is not a simple activity and current attention to this
process by reader-response critics, who think that readers make literary
meaning happen, corroborates this assumption. In his *Lectures on
Literature* Vladimir Nabokov devotes much attention to the phenomenon of
good reading. By good reading he meant something quite definite and
lucid -- a reader should approach books not only with his or her brain
but with the spine as well. To put it in simpler terms -- the readers
must work in order to reach the highest state of discovery and to feel
the thrill of penetration into the unknown. His novels demonstrate such
complexity because they consist of numerous references,
cross-references, not to mention elaborate puzzles. The readers have to
grope for knowledge tenaciously, examining and analyzing numerous and
distinct levels of the novels' structures. In other words, Nabokov's
novels are best read spatially. The readers construct the deduced
meaning of the novel after several rereadings, connecting disparate
parts and making sense of references and cross-references. This
construction is very intricate, for making meaning of "art at its
greatest," according to Nabokov, is a complicated process, just as art
is complex and deceitful. For him no matter how close one comes to
finding the truth about nature or art, there is much more hidden behind
the apparent layer of discovery for deeper knowledge always means deeper
mystery. This mystery, however, can be solved by employing spatial
reading, an idea articulated by Joseph Frank in the sixties. He has
pointed out this modern predilection for spatial form in literature, and
it seems widely accepted by postmodernists, "producing" a plethora of
fragmentary narratives in contemporary novels. In this sense, spatial
reading of Nabokov's novels coincides with the incessant postmodern
inclination towards fragmentation and spatiality within the novels. I
should admit, however, that to assign Nabokov to any literary school,
perhaps, would be a major mistake. Nabokov, a writer with strong
principles and opinions, always adamantly disagreed with the human
tendency to generalize and label. He never belonged to any literary
school or called himself a product of literary movements. Respecting
Nabokov's strong views, I would like to demonstrate how some of his
writings contain elements which in the literary critical terms of the
twentieth century would be called modernist and postmodernist. In turn,
I suggest that the study of Nabokov's writings can enrich and solidify
some of the concepts which became incipient in modernism and blossomed
in postmodernism. The notion of spatial form is one of them.
After the first reading of *Ada* the readers usually experience the
state of deep confusion or deceptive clarity because the design and
meaning of the novel can only be perceived after numerous rereadings.
The meaning and structure of the novel, which Nabokov always composed
before actual writing, are quite labyrinthine by virtue of the deceptive
strategies and intricate style he uses in his novel. In order to
comprehend the meaning of *Ada*, or to attempt to grasp the purposefulness
of Nabokov's patterns, readers need to peruse the five parts of *Ada* with
absolute attention, connecting the fragments, the recurrent motifs,
different parts of the whole story, and then, indeed, the discernment of
the novel will deepen. Brian Boyd writes, "It has been appreciated too
that Nabokov's style is unique not only on the surface of the prose but
at a more profound level of the reading experiences -- unique, that is,
in the challenge that exists between author and reader and in the
rewards awaiting the reader who can meet the challenges that author
prepares" (Boyd, *Nabokov's Ada:The Place of Consciousness*).
______________________________________________________________________________
Lara Delage-Toriel
Cambridge University
"Private Property: No Trespassing", or why feminists haven't yet
trodden on Nabokov's grounds.
'Lector in fabula': in the last two decades, critics have increasingly
emphasized the pivotal role of the reader alongside the author in the
production of the text. On the premise that a work of literature is never
a fully achieved product but an open and infinitely reversible creation,
critics often conceive reading as the culmination of the creative elan.
Yet "to say that a text is potentially endless does not mean that every
act of interpretation may have a fortunate end" (Umberto Eco, *The Limits
of Interpretation*). According to Eco, "the limits of interpretation
coincide with the rights of the text". The forensic tone of this assertion
indicates the potential dangers associated with the reading act, a
fortiori when it is critical: a literary work once published may well owe
its immortality to its readers, but it is also alienated from its author
and hence becomes the shared property of its myriad readers. Indeed,
reading involves an appropriating gesture, one that affixes the reader's
own set of values to the text and seals its meaning with the stamp of
subjective interpretation. In the last two decades, feminists have made it
one of their chief goals to reread the male canons of Western literature
by dismantling the 'smug misogynist' discourse underlying their works.
This venture is typically an act of appropriation since the feminist
reader claims to hold the key to the hermeneutics of the text. Nabokov,
who emphatically denies women the right to narrate in his novels,
relegating them instead to the status of objects (of art, desire,contempt,
representation...), would seem an ideal target for such readers. Yet,
even after the *Lolita* scandal, only one feminist, Linda Kauffman, has
attempted to reread Nabokov, as if he were immune to such assaults. In a
recent article, 'The White Man's Guest', Colleen Kennedy reflects upon
the feminist silence surrounding *Lolita* and locates its source in
Nabokov's own attitude, which pre-empts such readings in the foreword and
afterword that frame the novel. My contention is that Nabokov was acutely
aware of the dangers of appropriation, and responded preventively by
enclosing within the package of many of his novels a 'reader's instruction
manual' and by erecting signposts through various narrative strategies to
stop readers from trespassing onto his creative world in a way which would
spoil its landscape. My aim is to study some of his most prominent devices
and offer a critique of Linda's Kauffman's article in order to explain why
feminists have failed to appropriate Nabokov.
______________________________________________________________________________
Elena Rakhimova-Sommers
University of Rochester
The "Olgalized" Otherworld of 'Bend Sinister'.
Daring to go beyond Nabokov's specific instructions on how to
approach *Bend Sinister*, this paper examines the novel " for the sake of
the pages about David and his [mother]", "the beating of [Olga's] loving
heart", the throbbing presence of which is felt throughout the novel.
Merging with iridescent "potustoronnost'" upon her death, Olga
becomes (italicised) the otherworld charging it with her special presence,
feminizing it, in a real sense, "Olgalizing " it. Throughout the novel
the "Olgalized" otherworld will appear to Krug and David in different
shapes and forms carefully, but not unnoticeably disguised, trying to
"steer [its] favourite[s] in the best direction", bringing them comfort,
warning them of danger and showing that love survives death.
In an attempt to come to terms with the excruciating
verisimilitude of the torture and murder of the eight year old David, the
paper explores the symbolism behind Chardin's famous "The House of Cards"
placed by Olga in her husband's study before her death. One of Chardin's
most moving images of childhood, the portrait embodies the uncertainty and
fragility of life itself, emphasizing the precariousness of our existence.
Meant to act as a breath of wind in its most otherworldly sense, the
portrait is seen as Olga's own front cover illustration of the novel, in
itself an initiation into Nabokov's universe, where love, compassion and
tenderness are the norm.
With references to Nabokov's later novel, *Pnin*, the paper also
discusses Nabokov's notions of love as "redemption from hellish despair",
and compassion - two main passwords into the writer's world of "eternal
caress".
_______________________________________________________________________________