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Re: VNBibliography: Rudolf Sardi. An approa ch to VN's "Öth erworld"
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DonJ/JansyM: I thoroughly enjoyed Sárdi¹s well-crafted and persuasive essay.
It illustrates the challenge, nay the angst, facing serious, coherent
literary criticism of Nabokov¹s extremely diverse works. The latter not only
defy the ³trad² genre classifications, but Nabokov himself seems to reject
and discourage, nay mock, most of what passes as ³literary theory.² A few
oft-cited examples: VN eschews ³schools² of literature and questions the
earnest pursuit after ³influences,² especially those on VN by other writers
and vice-versa! VN admits inevitable influences by (and possibly on) ³world
events² but effectively says ³forget biography, look only at the author¹s
output.² (His own memoirs and his justified annoyance with, say, Field¹s
falsehoods, provide a possible, teasing contradiction?) At the same time he
questions any firm definition of what a ³novel² really is, except to vilify
its many misuses as a ³message² vehicle for ³social change.²
I was reminded of the BBC¹s foundational Charter: ³To Inform, Educate and
Entertain!² What a challenge! Does only the latter mission apply to VN¹s
novels, in the sense that his aesthetic, spine-tingling frissons provide
³Entertainment?² Recall that the Greek root for our ³History² carries the
meaning of ³diverting story telling.² BTW: VN refused to use the abbrev.
³Ms² and would probably be horrified at the cunning feminist ³Herstory.²
I do agree with Sárdi that we should avoid an over-preoccupation with VN¹s
allusional and word-play exploits, important and entertaining as they surely
are. But I have reservations about over-shifting our focus to VN¹s
³Otherworldliness.² I reject the notion that the observable physical
³reality² revealed by ³commonsense² and refined by science is somehow
pathetically drab and boring in contrast to the ³other² worlds of unbridled
metaphysical speculation!
Finally, Sárdi cites one of VN¹s most inspired jokes: ³Gnostical turpitude.²
VN would certainly know of the miraculous discovery of the Nag Hammadi
codices (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_library) of which the
Coptic Gospel of Thomas in particular hit the headlines. Before Nag Hammadi,
our knowledge of Gnosticism (by no means a single, uniform creed) was
restricted to early distortions from the Church Fathers who saw the various
Gnostic movements as the worst of all heresies as the diverse rival
Christian ³orthodoxies² were emerging. I¹ve been studying Bart D Ehrman¹s
³Lost Christianities² since 2002, and in addition to Sárdi¹s point about
Gnostic cosmology (a neat solution to the theodicy problem), of equal
importance to VN¹s ³metaphysics² is the Gnostic concept of ³hidden
knowledge² (whence the very name of the movement: Greek gnostos = known).
More (or less) anon.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 10/04/2009 14:48, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> D.Johnson sent:
> http://www.unincor.br/recorte/artigos/edicao8/8_artigo_rudolf.html : AN
> APPROACH TO VLADIMIR NABOKOV¹S ³OTHERWORLD² , Rudolf Sárdi (Eötvös Loránd
> University of Arts and Sciences (Budapeste / Hungria)
>
> JM: Taking an appreciative excerption, I chose:
> The complexity of Nabokov's oeuvre reaches far beyond the playful invention of
> anagrammatic names, tortuous narrative structures, and instances of amusing
> paronomasia, all of which had occupied a central role in Nabokov studies up
> until recently. In my view, the metaliterary approach to Nabokov's fiction is
> erroneous because it refuses to take into consideration the author's deeply
> held conviction in metaphysics and his capacity to an aesthetically heightened
> visionary state of consciousness...The author¹s sui generis faith in the
> metaphysical allowed him to establish a perceptible link between two ore more
> worlds, reinforcing the view that the ³otherworld² is never a self-contained
> realm detached from present reality. It never supplants the real world but
> exists as an alternative for the dissonance of the real world, offering an
> exit from the darkness of one universe and entrance to the brilliance of
> another one. R.Sárdi*
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