Subject
Re Authenticity
From
Date
Body
I'm Elena Danielson, new to the list, and not up to speed. But do let me
say that I greatly appreciate the thread about the question of authenticity
in general, regardless of the disposition of any specific case. As an
archivist concerned with diplomatics, I have long felt that the ambiguity
of authenticity was a major theme or subtext of *Pale Fire*. Probably list
members have already noticed that Nabokov worked on both *Pale Fire* and
the controversial *Song of Igor's Campaign* at the same time that the
Russian emigre press in the US was abuzz about the *Vles Kniga* or *Book of
Veles*, a comically crude, pseudo-medieval forgery that was published in
the late 1950s. (BTW Veles appears in line 66 of Igor.) The Book of Veles
is still passionately revered by many old emigres. It has recently become
an icon of neopagan groups in today's Russia despite the obviously fake
language. In contrast, the "Song of Igor" is a great work of art as Nabokov
proves in his foreword, notes and commentary, despite the acknowledged
whiffs of Ossianism (1960 edition, Foreword, pp.12-13, Commentary p. 88).
"Igor" meets most of Anthony Grafton's criteria for the great topos of
Western forgery (Grafton, 1990, * Forgers and Critics*, esp. pp. 9 & 23):
there is nothing else like it, the only original is sadly lost,
miraculously a copy was preserved, unfortunately all the proof is in a
hopelessly obscure language, but trust me it supports a sense of national
identity and a suitably noble past. (Shakespeare's noble histories
were essential for the emerging sense of English national identity,
regardless of authorship, -Aleida Assmann,* Cultural Memory*, pp.
58-78.).) The polished opening lines of Igor echo the opening stanza of the
indisputably authentic ca. 1200 *Nibelungenlied, *which VN refers to
obliquely-- (The Song of Igor as the one masterpiece that "not only lords
it over Kievan letters but rivals the greatest European poems of its day"
Foreword p. 13.) VN is contemptuous of the crudely nationalistic Soviet
veneration of the song, and substitutes an aesthetic veneration. As Edward
Keenan details, the erudite Josef Dobrovsky had both the opportunity and
the ability to produce a linguistically credible and poetically
powerful text, whether he actually wrote it or not. Even John Shade was
capable of a masterwork of ambiguous verse, as Brian Boyd and R.S. Gwynn
demonstrate.
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
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
say that I greatly appreciate the thread about the question of authenticity
in general, regardless of the disposition of any specific case. As an
archivist concerned with diplomatics, I have long felt that the ambiguity
of authenticity was a major theme or subtext of *Pale Fire*. Probably list
members have already noticed that Nabokov worked on both *Pale Fire* and
the controversial *Song of Igor's Campaign* at the same time that the
Russian emigre press in the US was abuzz about the *Vles Kniga* or *Book of
Veles*, a comically crude, pseudo-medieval forgery that was published in
the late 1950s. (BTW Veles appears in line 66 of Igor.) The Book of Veles
is still passionately revered by many old emigres. It has recently become
an icon of neopagan groups in today's Russia despite the obviously fake
language. In contrast, the "Song of Igor" is a great work of art as Nabokov
proves in his foreword, notes and commentary, despite the acknowledged
whiffs of Ossianism (1960 edition, Foreword, pp.12-13, Commentary p. 88).
"Igor" meets most of Anthony Grafton's criteria for the great topos of
Western forgery (Grafton, 1990, * Forgers and Critics*, esp. pp. 9 & 23):
there is nothing else like it, the only original is sadly lost,
miraculously a copy was preserved, unfortunately all the proof is in a
hopelessly obscure language, but trust me it supports a sense of national
identity and a suitably noble past. (Shakespeare's noble histories
were essential for the emerging sense of English national identity,
regardless of authorship, -Aleida Assmann,* Cultural Memory*, pp.
58-78.).) The polished opening lines of Igor echo the opening stanza of the
indisputably authentic ca. 1200 *Nibelungenlied, *which VN refers to
obliquely-- (The Song of Igor as the one masterpiece that "not only lords
it over Kievan letters but rivals the greatest European poems of its day"
Foreword p. 13.) VN is contemptuous of the crudely nationalistic Soviet
veneration of the song, and substitutes an aesthetic veneration. As Edward
Keenan details, the erudite Josef Dobrovsky had both the opportunity and
the ability to produce a linguistically credible and poetically
powerful text, whether he actually wrote it or not. Even John Shade was
capable of a masterwork of ambiguous verse, as Brian Boyd and R.S. Gwynn
demonstrate.
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
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/