Subject
Nassim Berjis dissertation abstract (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Nassim Berdjis <nwberdjis@ucdavis.edu>
Peter Lang has just published Nassim W. Berdjis's dissertation on
"Imagery in Vladimir Nabokov's Last Russian Novel (Dar), Its English
Translation (The Gift), and Other Prose Works of the 1930s." The ISBN
number for the US is 0-8204-2931-7. The dissertation comprises about
400 pages and is part of Peter Lang's series on English and American
Studies, edited by Winfried Herget (Johannes Gutenberg University,
Mainz, Germany).
Abstract:
During the years from the conception until the completion of
Dar, Nabokov wrote five additional novels, twenty-two short stories, and
one drama. Many of these works are thematically interrelated, and this
comparative study discusses similarities and dissimiliarities of
literary devices which Nabokov used in dealing with a broad variety
of issues. Connecting Dar with other works of the same period grants
insights into the increasing complexity of imagery achieved during that
decade and in the English translations and retranslations. Images are
analyzed according to structural and thematic criteria. As the time spans
separating the Russian originals and their English translations vary from
five years to several decades, the analysis reaches into the third
decade of Nabokov's English oeuvre. By including the translations and
finding connections between images within two versions of one work and
among works of that period, this study contributes to research on the
relationship between Nabokov's Russian and English prose.
Following a survey of the genesis of Nabokov's works written parallel
to Dar/The Gift and of their translation and publication history,
David Lodge's application of Roman Jakobson's theory of the distinction
between metaphor and metonymy is modified in the context of current
developments in that field, leading to the supposition that in modern
literature metaphor and metonymy cannot be regarded as opposites
separating poetry and prose, but that they rather serve as poels between
which the writer's verbal virtuosity oscillates and which he uses
separately and in conjunction with one another. Jakobson's attitude
towards the study of imagery appears applicable to Nabokov's works,
because individual perception and verbal expression are central to this
linguist's theory, thus elevating images from rhetorical ornamentation to
active elements of human consciousness and world view. Adding to the
analysis of metaphors and metonymies from a predominantly artistic
point of view, the scientific element is incorporated by using the
dictionaries Nabokov recommended (DAL' and Webster's 2nd).
In chapter 2, images are categorized according to the transition they
achieve between two different realms, thus showing Nabokov's virtuosity
in yoking together disparate phenomena and in superimposing
interacting layers of meanings and associations. The cited examples show
parallels, differences, and developments in the structure and form of
metaphorical and metonymical images and interconnections. There are
single images for aesthetic pleasure which contribute to the
interpretation of their cotext as well as networks of images which form
patterns of recurrence and relationships between images.
Chapter 3 shows that "telling names" connect a person or a named object
with a strange but yet related cotext which implies certain
characteristics without necessarily using matter-of-fact explanations.
Similarly, puns employ single words and sounds as well as their combinations
in order to transcend unambiguous semantic understanding by playing
with simultaneously occurring shades of meaning. Chess imagery connects
play and patterning, thus bridging images or word games and networks of
such imagery.
Chapters 4 through 8 include analyses of single images and, if they form
a pattern, of their role within one work and within the whole time span.
The artist's personality and work constitute the focus of chapter 4 in
which creative activity and the relationship between empirical and
fictional worlds are discussed. Chapter 5 elucidates some instruments the
artist uses in his exploration of life and in his creative work, such as
sense perceptions and memory. Chapter 6 focuses on the relationship
between art and nature and between the artist and the natural scientist
by comparing their activities and by showing the artist's perceptions
of natural phenomena and of man-made objects. The following chapter
deals with mathematical, geometrical, and architectural images,
broaching questions concerning the relationship between the material
and the metaphysical realms.
The discussion of the relationship between empirical and fictional
worlds, of the effect of science and art on man, and of an ideologically
confined as opposed to a free human(e) mind points towards questions
about the meaning of earthly life and the existence and accessibility
of other worlds. Thus, chapter 8 discusses images which characterize
religion or which project religious elements on something else, as well
as related issues of preexistence, birth, life, death, and an
afterlife. An analysis of the relationship between the belief in life
after death and artistic accomplishments then asserts the power and
immortality of images in art. Aesthetic experiences challenge Nabokov's
fictional characters and his readers to participate in an analytical
process of scrutinizing details and detecting patterns for the sake of
delighting in the capacities of human imagination, reason, and
consciousness.
Peter Lang has just published Nassim W. Berdjis's dissertation on
"Imagery in Vladimir Nabokov's Last Russian Novel (Dar), Its English
Translation (The Gift), and Other Prose Works of the 1930s." The ISBN
number for the US is 0-8204-2931-7. The dissertation comprises about
400 pages and is part of Peter Lang's series on English and American
Studies, edited by Winfried Herget (Johannes Gutenberg University,
Mainz, Germany).
Abstract:
During the years from the conception until the completion of
Dar, Nabokov wrote five additional novels, twenty-two short stories, and
one drama. Many of these works are thematically interrelated, and this
comparative study discusses similarities and dissimiliarities of
literary devices which Nabokov used in dealing with a broad variety
of issues. Connecting Dar with other works of the same period grants
insights into the increasing complexity of imagery achieved during that
decade and in the English translations and retranslations. Images are
analyzed according to structural and thematic criteria. As the time spans
separating the Russian originals and their English translations vary from
five years to several decades, the analysis reaches into the third
decade of Nabokov's English oeuvre. By including the translations and
finding connections between images within two versions of one work and
among works of that period, this study contributes to research on the
relationship between Nabokov's Russian and English prose.
Following a survey of the genesis of Nabokov's works written parallel
to Dar/The Gift and of their translation and publication history,
David Lodge's application of Roman Jakobson's theory of the distinction
between metaphor and metonymy is modified in the context of current
developments in that field, leading to the supposition that in modern
literature metaphor and metonymy cannot be regarded as opposites
separating poetry and prose, but that they rather serve as poels between
which the writer's verbal virtuosity oscillates and which he uses
separately and in conjunction with one another. Jakobson's attitude
towards the study of imagery appears applicable to Nabokov's works,
because individual perception and verbal expression are central to this
linguist's theory, thus elevating images from rhetorical ornamentation to
active elements of human consciousness and world view. Adding to the
analysis of metaphors and metonymies from a predominantly artistic
point of view, the scientific element is incorporated by using the
dictionaries Nabokov recommended (DAL' and Webster's 2nd).
In chapter 2, images are categorized according to the transition they
achieve between two different realms, thus showing Nabokov's virtuosity
in yoking together disparate phenomena and in superimposing
interacting layers of meanings and associations. The cited examples show
parallels, differences, and developments in the structure and form of
metaphorical and metonymical images and interconnections. There are
single images for aesthetic pleasure which contribute to the
interpretation of their cotext as well as networks of images which form
patterns of recurrence and relationships between images.
Chapter 3 shows that "telling names" connect a person or a named object
with a strange but yet related cotext which implies certain
characteristics without necessarily using matter-of-fact explanations.
Similarly, puns employ single words and sounds as well as their combinations
in order to transcend unambiguous semantic understanding by playing
with simultaneously occurring shades of meaning. Chess imagery connects
play and patterning, thus bridging images or word games and networks of
such imagery.
Chapters 4 through 8 include analyses of single images and, if they form
a pattern, of their role within one work and within the whole time span.
The artist's personality and work constitute the focus of chapter 4 in
which creative activity and the relationship between empirical and
fictional worlds are discussed. Chapter 5 elucidates some instruments the
artist uses in his exploration of life and in his creative work, such as
sense perceptions and memory. Chapter 6 focuses on the relationship
between art and nature and between the artist and the natural scientist
by comparing their activities and by showing the artist's perceptions
of natural phenomena and of man-made objects. The following chapter
deals with mathematical, geometrical, and architectural images,
broaching questions concerning the relationship between the material
and the metaphysical realms.
The discussion of the relationship between empirical and fictional
worlds, of the effect of science and art on man, and of an ideologically
confined as opposed to a free human(e) mind points towards questions
about the meaning of earthly life and the existence and accessibility
of other worlds. Thus, chapter 8 discusses images which characterize
religion or which project religious elements on something else, as well
as related issues of preexistence, birth, life, death, and an
afterlife. An analysis of the relationship between the belief in life
after death and artistic accomplishments then asserts the power and
immortality of images in art. Aesthetic experiences challenge Nabokov's
fictional characters and his readers to participate in an analytical
process of scrutinizing details and detecting patterns for the sake of
delighting in the capacities of human imagination, reason, and
consciousness.