Subject
Nabokov?Freud?Jung (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Scott Michael Craig <scraig@gvi.net>
I have been reading the posts to the VN-Music for the past few days with
great interest, and would like to post a question to the list that is in
the same vein.
I have always taken at face value Nabokov's dislike of Freud, whether you
take his view from interviews and essays ("I don't want an elderly
gentleman from Vienna inflicting his dreams upon me.") or the fictional
accounts such as Kinbote and Shade rolling in the grass laughing at
Freud. I have always been more curious at the underlying reasons for his
vehemence against Freud, especially since he wrote so brilliantly about
neurosis and the human pysche. I say this because he did not just ignore
Freud, but attacked him on a number of occasions. I have hypothesized
that he disliked Freud and Freudian analysis because so many of his
characters (and to Freud, therefore, himself) are so open to a rather
shallow, sexual interpretation. And I would assume that many on this list
would agree that a Freudian analysis of Humbert Humbert or Kinbote would
ineluctably be shallow and misguided.
So I have two questions. First, does anyone have any other
interpretations for Nabokov's dislike for Freud? Second, did Nabokov ever
mention Jung? I have never read any account of Nabokov even discussing
Jung, negative or positive. And did Nabokov have any interest in
archetypes in general? So much of his fiction is so deep in dreams, that
one must wonder if he was at all influenced by pyschoanalysis and the
avenues that dream analysis opened up.
I apologize for the length of this post, but I hope that everyone will
join in.
Thanks,
Scott Michael Craig
scraig@gvi.net
**************************************************************
Scott Michael Craig
scraig@gvi.net
**************************************************************
Twice I approached the cold-hearted altar of Windows.
And twice, I was frustrated. Then, a fellow seeker reached
out to me and said, "This is Mac. It is the light and the way.
It is the one good interface."
--David Plotnikoff
**************************************************************
I have been reading the posts to the VN-Music for the past few days with
great interest, and would like to post a question to the list that is in
the same vein.
I have always taken at face value Nabokov's dislike of Freud, whether you
take his view from interviews and essays ("I don't want an elderly
gentleman from Vienna inflicting his dreams upon me.") or the fictional
accounts such as Kinbote and Shade rolling in the grass laughing at
Freud. I have always been more curious at the underlying reasons for his
vehemence against Freud, especially since he wrote so brilliantly about
neurosis and the human pysche. I say this because he did not just ignore
Freud, but attacked him on a number of occasions. I have hypothesized
that he disliked Freud and Freudian analysis because so many of his
characters (and to Freud, therefore, himself) are so open to a rather
shallow, sexual interpretation. And I would assume that many on this list
would agree that a Freudian analysis of Humbert Humbert or Kinbote would
ineluctably be shallow and misguided.
So I have two questions. First, does anyone have any other
interpretations for Nabokov's dislike for Freud? Second, did Nabokov ever
mention Jung? I have never read any account of Nabokov even discussing
Jung, negative or positive. And did Nabokov have any interest in
archetypes in general? So much of his fiction is so deep in dreams, that
one must wonder if he was at all influenced by pyschoanalysis and the
avenues that dream analysis opened up.
I apologize for the length of this post, but I hope that everyone will
join in.
Thanks,
Scott Michael Craig
scraig@gvi.net
**************************************************************
Scott Michael Craig
scraig@gvi.net
**************************************************************
Twice I approached the cold-hearted altar of Windows.
And twice, I was frustrated. Then, a fellow seeker reached
out to me and said, "This is Mac. It is the light and the way.
It is the one good interface."
--David Plotnikoff
**************************************************************