Subject
Nabokov and libraries (fwd)
Date
Body
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 16:55 CST
From: HSS3728@TAMZEUS.bitnet
To: nabokv-l@ucsbvm
Subject: Nabokov and libraries
In Find What the Sailor Has Hidden, Priscilla Meyer states
...Nabokov points us outward to the real, documented world...
to a large library where by the slow accumulation of minute,
multiply buried interconnected detail we too can reassemble the
unfolding of Nabokov's major cultures... She goes on to say that
Nabokov insists associations are not buried in the unconscious
but in texts emphasizing "...the need for an overarching
consciousness of the interconnections that make up the
universe..."(p.64).
In Strong Opinions Nabokov mentions libraries several times
and in one interview claims that "...the difference between an
ape's memory and human memory is the difference between an
ampersand and the British Museum Library." In Ada, Van says
"...life, love and libraries have no future," and again in SO
VN talks about, " ...the serene silence..." of university
libraries. Many such examples abound, clearly(as they say on
talk shows and to use a Nabokovian aside), linking the most
cherished of concepts with the many-sided, complexly imagined and
originally employed library theme. For a study of this subject, I
am interested in either any mention of any library in any work by
Nabokov or commentary on the relationship between this and other
Nabokovian themes.
Suellen Stringer-Hye
Texas A&M University
Sterling C. Evans Library
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 16:55 CST
From: HSS3728@TAMZEUS.bitnet
To: nabokv-l@ucsbvm
Subject: Nabokov and libraries
In Find What the Sailor Has Hidden, Priscilla Meyer states
...Nabokov points us outward to the real, documented world...
to a large library where by the slow accumulation of minute,
multiply buried interconnected detail we too can reassemble the
unfolding of Nabokov's major cultures... She goes on to say that
Nabokov insists associations are not buried in the unconscious
but in texts emphasizing "...the need for an overarching
consciousness of the interconnections that make up the
universe..."(p.64).
In Strong Opinions Nabokov mentions libraries several times
and in one interview claims that "...the difference between an
ape's memory and human memory is the difference between an
ampersand and the British Museum Library." In Ada, Van says
"...life, love and libraries have no future," and again in SO
VN talks about, " ...the serene silence..." of university
libraries. Many such examples abound, clearly(as they say on
talk shows and to use a Nabokovian aside), linking the most
cherished of concepts with the many-sided, complexly imagined and
originally employed library theme. For a study of this subject, I
am interested in either any mention of any library in any work by
Nabokov or commentary on the relationship between this and other
Nabokovian themes.
Suellen Stringer-Hye
Texas A&M University
Sterling C. Evans Library