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MR to Sergei on counterpoint and texture in PF
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Segei writes:
>To me, it is strong argument against the idea that
>PF would be built on musical principles.
Sergei, I agree that this is a strong extra-textual argument.
I think, however, that the actual text of PF makes a stronger
case FOR musical principles. Counterpoint is a very well-known
musical principle. It seems impossible, even given what you
wrote, to think that VN didn't think of music when he
put that word in Shade's mouth (and we should remember
that Shade's interests and VN's interests are almost
certainly not identical). The proximity, then, of texture,
another musical term, to "contrapuntal" reinforces this
interpretation. To use texture in a material sense so soon
after referring to counterpoint seems like the kind of mixed
metaphor that VN would be too sharp to allow. On top of all
this, you have Gradus ad Parnassum. This seems to me to be
a "web of sense," not mere coincidence.
Matthew Roth
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>To me, it is strong argument against the idea that
>PF would be built on musical principles.
Sergei, I agree that this is a strong extra-textual argument.
I think, however, that the actual text of PF makes a stronger
case FOR musical principles. Counterpoint is a very well-known
musical principle. It seems impossible, even given what you
wrote, to think that VN didn't think of music when he
put that word in Shade's mouth (and we should remember
that Shade's interests and VN's interests are almost
certainly not identical). The proximity, then, of texture,
another musical term, to "contrapuntal" reinforces this
interpretation. To use texture in a material sense so soon
after referring to counterpoint seems like the kind of mixed
metaphor that VN would be too sharp to allow. On top of all
this, you have Gradus ad Parnassum. This seems to me to be
a "web of sense," not mere coincidence.
Matthew Roth
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