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Re: TT-4 (fwd) 1) HP & his father 2) otherwordl? (fwd)
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You (Sandy Drescher) wrote:
> Perhaps an experienced List member might enlighten an amateur on
> the following questions. Thanks in advance.
...
> 3] Can the idea - or is it a wish? - that consciousness survives
> death be
> understood psychologically as well a metaphysically? Has the theme of
> past-beings surviving in living memory and in art been lost in TT? May
> Nabokov have used the idea of extended consciousness as a metaphor,
> characterizing as "immortal" the ongoing dialogues between a mortal author
> and descendant, living readers?
What a provocative and good suggestion!
> 4] How is the reader to understand characters who seem to be
> entirely certain of what they think and feel? How believable is a
> human free of ambivalence? Is that not the rub?
Which characters are you thinking of?
> Is there a character in TT who seems human enough for the reader to like?
It seems to me that in general unlikable characters and unlikable people
are as human as likable ones. And also that a reader can like a character
or a person part of the time and dislike him another time. Still, I know
that we can be quicker to say "I like him" or "I don't like him" than "I
don't know him very well." So far, I mostly like both Persons.
Another amateur without answers,
Mary Krimmel
Which characters are you thinking of?
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
You (Sandy Drescher) wrote:
> Perhaps an experienced List member might enlighten an amateur on
> the following questions. Thanks in advance.
...
> 3] Can the idea - or is it a wish? - that consciousness survives
> death be
> understood psychologically as well a metaphysically? Has the theme of
> past-beings surviving in living memory and in art been lost in TT? May
> Nabokov have used the idea of extended consciousness as a metaphor,
> characterizing as "immortal" the ongoing dialogues between a mortal author
> and descendant, living readers?
What a provocative and good suggestion!
> 4] How is the reader to understand characters who seem to be
> entirely certain of what they think and feel? How believable is a
> human free of ambivalence? Is that not the rub?
Which characters are you thinking of?
> Is there a character in TT who seems human enough for the reader to like?
It seems to me that in general unlikable characters and unlikable people
are as human as likable ones. And also that a reader can like a character
or a person part of the time and dislike him another time. Still, I know
that we can be quicker to say "I like him" or "I don't like him" than "I
don't know him very well." So far, I mostly like both Persons.
Another amateur without answers,
Mary Krimmel
Which characters are you thinking of?
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L