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THOUGHTS [Bend Sinister: escaping a singular consciousness]
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I found it interesting that while re-reading "Bend Sinister", Nabokov's
description of a world at its tyrannical worst, is also his supposed ideal
state of being. Was it not Nabokov's ultimate desire to be able to escape
the confines of one's singular consciousness, and enter into others at
will? Seems this state of being is also, perversely, his description of
hell too (from Paduk via the village radio, Chapter 6):
"Your groping individualities will become interchangeable and, instead of
crouching in the prison cell of an illegal ego, the naked soul will be in
contact with that of every other man in this land; nay, more: each of you
will be able to make his abode in the elastic inner self of any other
citizen, and flutter from one to another, until you know not whether you
are Peter or John, so closely locked will you be in the embrace of the
State... "
Thoughts?
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description of a world at its tyrannical worst, is also his supposed ideal
state of being. Was it not Nabokov's ultimate desire to be able to escape
the confines of one's singular consciousness, and enter into others at
will? Seems this state of being is also, perversely, his description of
hell too (from Paduk via the village radio, Chapter 6):
"Your groping individualities will become interchangeable and, instead of
crouching in the prison cell of an illegal ego, the naked soul will be in
contact with that of every other man in this land; nay, more: each of you
will be able to make his abode in the elastic inner self of any other
citizen, and flutter from one to another, until you know not whether you
are Peter or John, so closely locked will you be in the embrace of the
State... "
Thoughts?
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/