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Re: Nabokov on Truth (pravda and istina) - art's higher level?
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Frances Assa: "When Tolstoy did happen to find it in himself, in the splendor of his creative imagination, then, almost unconsciously, he was on the right path. "
Not surprisingly, Nabokov says we may find truth internally, guided by imagination. Although, it seems Nabokov, unlike Tolstoy, was not looking for it.
Jansy Mello: Judging from his various careful commentaries, I suspect that Nabokov was in fact looking for "istina," but never as a prophet. It was a private quest, at times indirectly assumed by wordings such as the lines in RLSK ( if we give credit to SK's half-brother's fictive testimony*) : "As often was the way with Sebastian Knight he used parody as a kind of springboard for leaping into the highest region of serious emotion. J. L. Coleman has called it 'al clown developing wings, an angel mimicking a tumbler pigeon', and the metaphor seems to me very apt. Based cunningly on a parody of certain tricks of the literary trade, The Prismatic Bezel soars skyward."
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* In his preface to Maschenka, Nabokov confesses that he never fails being fascinated by the fact that, in spite of some superimposed inventions, a fictional account contains a more concentrated resolution of personal reality than the scrupulously faithful description attained by the autobiographer.
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Not surprisingly, Nabokov says we may find truth internally, guided by imagination. Although, it seems Nabokov, unlike Tolstoy, was not looking for it.
Jansy Mello: Judging from his various careful commentaries, I suspect that Nabokov was in fact looking for "istina," but never as a prophet. It was a private quest, at times indirectly assumed by wordings such as the lines in RLSK ( if we give credit to SK's half-brother's fictive testimony*) : "As often was the way with Sebastian Knight he used parody as a kind of springboard for leaping into the highest region of serious emotion. J. L. Coleman has called it 'al clown developing wings, an angel mimicking a tumbler pigeon', and the metaphor seems to me very apt. Based cunningly on a parody of certain tricks of the literary trade, The Prismatic Bezel soars skyward."
............................................................................
* In his preface to Maschenka, Nabokov confesses that he never fails being fascinated by the fact that, in spite of some superimposed inventions, a fictional account contains a more concentrated resolution of personal reality than the scrupulously faithful description attained by the autobiographer.
.
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/