Subject
RLSK and Rossetti
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Without researching into the wealth of informations related to the days when Nabokov wrote his first novel in English, but realizing that the literature of the "Old World," at that time, weighed more in his background than the American, I was reminded of a quip about Dante Gabriel Rossetti and of another related to Sebastian's style.I couldn't find the exact wording in the internet (who mentioned it, in Spanish, was JL Borges, a great admirer of Rossetti's sonnets). Although the items are different, there's a structural similarity in the disparaging contrast found in both sentences.
Nabokov once imagined himself a painter, like Rossetti, and, like him, he abandoned his initial project to become a writer and translator, like Rossetti.
Trying a rough transposition of Borges's critical reference: "It was said that Rosseti, as a writer, drew marvellous images whereas, as a painter, he excelled at descriptions."
Cp. to Nabokov's clever play: "Poor Knight! he really had two periods, the first - a dull man writing broken English; the second - a broken man writing dull English." ( RLSK, New Directions,p.7).
I thought it was an interesting parallel to bring up. The name of Rossetti isn't always brought up in relation to Nabokov (did Nabokov prefer Rossetti's contemporary, Robert Browning, who hated Rossetti's "affectation"?*) but Rossetti must have facilitated Nabokov's access to Dante Alighieri, Guido Cavalcanti and other Italian medieval poets.
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* - Leland de La Durantaye notes "As regards D.G.Rossetti, A.C.Swinburne, Théophile Gautier, or James Whistler, Nabokov showed little interest."
Style is Matter: The Moral Art of Vladimir Nabokov, Cornell University Press, p.36.
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Nabokov once imagined himself a painter, like Rossetti, and, like him, he abandoned his initial project to become a writer and translator, like Rossetti.
Trying a rough transposition of Borges's critical reference: "It was said that Rosseti, as a writer, drew marvellous images whereas, as a painter, he excelled at descriptions."
Cp. to Nabokov's clever play: "Poor Knight! he really had two periods, the first - a dull man writing broken English; the second - a broken man writing dull English." ( RLSK, New Directions,p.7).
I thought it was an interesting parallel to bring up. The name of Rossetti isn't always brought up in relation to Nabokov (did Nabokov prefer Rossetti's contemporary, Robert Browning, who hated Rossetti's "affectation"?*) but Rossetti must have facilitated Nabokov's access to Dante Alighieri, Guido Cavalcanti and other Italian medieval poets.
...................................................................................
* - Leland de La Durantaye notes "As regards D.G.Rossetti, A.C.Swinburne, Théophile Gautier, or James Whistler, Nabokov showed little interest."
Style is Matter: The Moral Art of Vladimir Nabokov, Cornell University Press, p.36.
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/