Subject
Nabokov Papers at Univ. of Missouri German-Russian Forum (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITORIAL NOTE. NABOKOV-L thanks JOHN BURT FOSTER <jfoster@osf1.gmu.edu>,
author, inter alia, of _Nabokov's Art of Memory and European Modernism_
(Princeton, 1993) and former president of the International Vladimir
Nabokov Society for the abstracts and information below.
---------------------------------
The following two papers were presented
at the International Symposium on "German and Russian Cultural
Juxtaposition," held at the University of Missouri from February 27 to
March 1, 1997. Abstracts are included. The symposium was organized by
Gennady Barabtarlo, a former president of the International Nabokov
Society.
-------------------------------------------
Omry Ronen, "Nabokov and Goethe: Emulation, Parody, and
Reconciliation."
Goethe's art, thought, and life are considered as one of
the recurrent subtexts of Vladimir Nabokov's oeuvre, and the scope of
Nabokov's attitudes toward Goethe is outlined and analyzed as part of the
broader problem of Russia's greatest and most supra-national 20th-century
writer's links with Germany and with literature in German. Among the
topics addressed in this context are the newly identified translation by
Nabokov of a poem out of *West-Oestlicher Divan*; the themes of *Faust*
and of Mann's *Lotte in Weimar* parodied in *Lolita*; the pervasive
presence of the "Holy Longing" and the "King of Thule" motifs in the
ontological core and the metaphyscial and metapoetic framework of
Nabokov's art; and the image of German literature and German writers,
real or invented, in his Russian- and English-language fiction.
---------------------------------
John Burt Foster, Jr., "Trans-National Authorship on the
German-Slavic Border: Nietzsche and Nabokov as Examples."
In the past
comparative literary study has often focused on binary problems, such as
the shifting fortunes of cross-cultural exchange across the German-Slavic
border. But more recently interest has turned to the ways that the very
category of a national literature can distort our understanding of certain
cultural situations, especially the emerging phenomenon of trans-national
authorship. This essay discusses Nietzsche and Nabokov as important
precursors of this development, but not because of their attitudes toward
Germano-Russian literary and cultural interaction, which were very mixed.
Instead, they made striking efforts as writers to break out of an
exclusive identification with either Germany or Russia, and to create a
utopian literary space which radically qeustioned the very idea of
borders.
------------------------------------------
In the context of Ryan Asmussen's posting of March 25, I would add that
the Foster essay includes some reflections on the significance of
Nabokov's inclusion in the "Vintage International" series, but emphasizes
his placement with authors like Maxine Hong Kingston and Wole Soyinka and
criticizing the label "international" for obscuring the true significance
of "transnationality."
==================================================================
John Foster
English / George Mason University
Email Address: "jfoster@gmu.edu"
author, inter alia, of _Nabokov's Art of Memory and European Modernism_
(Princeton, 1993) and former president of the International Vladimir
Nabokov Society for the abstracts and information below.
---------------------------------
The following two papers were presented
at the International Symposium on "German and Russian Cultural
Juxtaposition," held at the University of Missouri from February 27 to
March 1, 1997. Abstracts are included. The symposium was organized by
Gennady Barabtarlo, a former president of the International Nabokov
Society.
-------------------------------------------
Omry Ronen, "Nabokov and Goethe: Emulation, Parody, and
Reconciliation."
Goethe's art, thought, and life are considered as one of
the recurrent subtexts of Vladimir Nabokov's oeuvre, and the scope of
Nabokov's attitudes toward Goethe is outlined and analyzed as part of the
broader problem of Russia's greatest and most supra-national 20th-century
writer's links with Germany and with literature in German. Among the
topics addressed in this context are the newly identified translation by
Nabokov of a poem out of *West-Oestlicher Divan*; the themes of *Faust*
and of Mann's *Lotte in Weimar* parodied in *Lolita*; the pervasive
presence of the "Holy Longing" and the "King of Thule" motifs in the
ontological core and the metaphyscial and metapoetic framework of
Nabokov's art; and the image of German literature and German writers,
real or invented, in his Russian- and English-language fiction.
---------------------------------
John Burt Foster, Jr., "Trans-National Authorship on the
German-Slavic Border: Nietzsche and Nabokov as Examples."
In the past
comparative literary study has often focused on binary problems, such as
the shifting fortunes of cross-cultural exchange across the German-Slavic
border. But more recently interest has turned to the ways that the very
category of a national literature can distort our understanding of certain
cultural situations, especially the emerging phenomenon of trans-national
authorship. This essay discusses Nietzsche and Nabokov as important
precursors of this development, but not because of their attitudes toward
Germano-Russian literary and cultural interaction, which were very mixed.
Instead, they made striking efforts as writers to break out of an
exclusive identification with either Germany or Russia, and to create a
utopian literary space which radically qeustioned the very idea of
borders.
------------------------------------------
In the context of Ryan Asmussen's posting of March 25, I would add that
the Foster essay includes some reflections on the significance of
Nabokov's inclusion in the "Vintage International" series, but emphasizes
his placement with authors like Maxine Hong Kingston and Wole Soyinka and
criticizing the label "international" for obscuring the true significance
of "transnationality."
==================================================================
John Foster
English / George Mason University
Email Address: "jfoster@gmu.edu"