Subject
On symmetry
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Date
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> I think that formal properties can express meaning in rare special
occasions while retaining paradoxical qualities. I wonder if anyone who
agrees with me could find examples in VN's Russian poetry or in his
prose.
What a fascinating subject that lowly symmetry had become! In my opinion
examples can be found in every work of VN where human memory and
consciousness play independent role. Limiting myself to short stories as
less risky to overplay the card:
'The Circle' - the story flows into itself (as middle part of Pale Fire)
'A Russian beauty' - for many arrows that had missed the target, the
final
arrow struck it clean, making the story complete
'A dashing fellow', 'The Leonardo', 'Breaking the news' - in these
stories
(as in 'Bent Sinister') banality, so diverse, inevitably makes a good
target
practice
'Cloud, Castle, Lake' - This story has its nerve in a center of
reflection
of a kind when V.I. recognized the View. Earlier he was saying to
himself
that "never, never would he remember these three little things here in
that
particular interrelation, this pattern ..." (like "a smear on the
platform,
a cherry stone, a cigarette butt"). Similar reflection around moral
intangible exists in 'Lolita'.
'An affair of honor' - life of A.P. became a sad mirror image of itself
after he "pushed open a door, and a shower of sunlight splashed his
face"
'The return of Chorb' - final scene where symmetry of silence between
Chorb
and his wife's parents tells in reverse the story about their daughter's
irreversible absence
Other kinds of reflections can be found in stories where protagonist
sees
life in reverse image of its former self while dying: 'Details of a
sunset',
'Bachman', 'The Aurelian', 'Perfection'.
Regarding the below comment by Victor Fet, while agreeing with the
premise,
I would like to speculate that such bio-math concepts lay in foundation
of
inner workings of human memory and consciousness, and as such have so
profound effect on literary text. And since VN was in a way specializing
in
these, both as an artist and a scientist, it is not by accident that
symmetry-like concepts play role in structure of his compositions.
> I suspect that all these enigmatic bio-math academic concepts
(mirrors,
duplications, redundancy, branching, asymmetry, disorder/order) are
mirrored
by existing philological terminology relevant to structure and
morphology of
literary texts
And finally, if we were to describe VN stories without retelling the
subject, we'll do just fine, many re-readings and years later, with
symmetry, reflections and patterns.
- George Shimanovich
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occasions while retaining paradoxical qualities. I wonder if anyone who
agrees with me could find examples in VN's Russian poetry or in his
prose.
What a fascinating subject that lowly symmetry had become! In my opinion
examples can be found in every work of VN where human memory and
consciousness play independent role. Limiting myself to short stories as
less risky to overplay the card:
'The Circle' - the story flows into itself (as middle part of Pale Fire)
'A Russian beauty' - for many arrows that had missed the target, the
final
arrow struck it clean, making the story complete
'A dashing fellow', 'The Leonardo', 'Breaking the news' - in these
stories
(as in 'Bent Sinister') banality, so diverse, inevitably makes a good
target
practice
'Cloud, Castle, Lake' - This story has its nerve in a center of
reflection
of a kind when V.I. recognized the View. Earlier he was saying to
himself
that "never, never would he remember these three little things here in
that
particular interrelation, this pattern ..." (like "a smear on the
platform,
a cherry stone, a cigarette butt"). Similar reflection around moral
intangible exists in 'Lolita'.
'An affair of honor' - life of A.P. became a sad mirror image of itself
after he "pushed open a door, and a shower of sunlight splashed his
face"
'The return of Chorb' - final scene where symmetry of silence between
Chorb
and his wife's parents tells in reverse the story about their daughter's
irreversible absence
Other kinds of reflections can be found in stories where protagonist
sees
life in reverse image of its former self while dying: 'Details of a
sunset',
'Bachman', 'The Aurelian', 'Perfection'.
Regarding the below comment by Victor Fet, while agreeing with the
premise,
I would like to speculate that such bio-math concepts lay in foundation
of
inner workings of human memory and consciousness, and as such have so
profound effect on literary text. And since VN was in a way specializing
in
these, both as an artist and a scientist, it is not by accident that
symmetry-like concepts play role in structure of his compositions.
> I suspect that all these enigmatic bio-math academic concepts
(mirrors,
duplications, redundancy, branching, asymmetry, disorder/order) are
mirrored
by existing philological terminology relevant to structure and
morphology of
literary texts
And finally, if we were to describe VN stories without retelling the
subject, we'll do just fine, many re-readings and years later, with
symmetry, reflections and patterns.
- George Shimanovich
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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