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Re: Baron von Wien
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If we can briefly tear ourselves away from ingenious word-games ... I was
fascinated to learn from Antony Beevor¹s BERLIN that Freud¹s works were
banned in Soviet Union following that ever-so-brief avant-garde flurry¹ in
the 1920s. It¹s almost certainly been debated in the vast Nabokovian
literature, but, new to me, it seemed remarkable that Nabokov and Stalin
shared Freud, as it were, as a common enemy.¹ On the other hand, of course,
Freud and Nabokov shared Stalin as a common suppresser.
I have Beevor¹s frightening- unto-despair book only in audio-format, so
forgive the absence of precise quotes and citations. Beevor is relating the
still largely-unmentionable cases of mass rape of German women by the Red
Army as it swept through East Prussia towards Berlin. He offers the tricky
historian¹s balance¹ needed to appreciate the inevitable chaos-of-war and
the rage-and-revenge following the massive Nazi atrocities perpetrated. He
adds the factor of suppressed Soviet male sexual appetites, associated with
the enforced puritanical¹ streak found in Stalinism and most totalitarian
regimes. Individual love¹ being directed toward the State ... I leave these
vague notions to be refined by those more versed in the complex issues. How
did Freud and Nabokov react to Soviet suppression of sexual ¹openness?¹
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 26/01/2011 15:45, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> A.Sklyarenko: "Like Van Veen, Nabokov was ein unverbesserlicher Witzbold, but,
> Rack being a Mozart-like figure, "Baron von Wien" seems to hint at several
> characters in Pushkin's "Little Tragedies" ..." JM:... whenever Nabokov
> mentions Wien he is referring to the "Viennese quack." ( "Dr Froit of
> Signy-Mondieu-Mondieu in the Ardennes or, more likely, the same man, because
> they both came from Vienne, Isère...")
>
> JM: A rapid google-search (wiki) for the French and Austrian Vienne, Vienna,
> Wien and the "Viennois", shows that (rather surprisingly for me, when we
> leave out Freud and Von Wien), the etymology seems to inspire Aqua's ("water")
> relation to river names that indicates torrential waters. Nevertheless, I
> don't think Nabokov departed from this kind of information when he played with
> Wien and Vienna.
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fascinated to learn from Antony Beevor¹s BERLIN that Freud¹s works were
banned in Soviet Union following that ever-so-brief avant-garde flurry¹ in
the 1920s. It¹s almost certainly been debated in the vast Nabokovian
literature, but, new to me, it seemed remarkable that Nabokov and Stalin
shared Freud, as it were, as a common enemy.¹ On the other hand, of course,
Freud and Nabokov shared Stalin as a common suppresser.
I have Beevor¹s frightening- unto-despair book only in audio-format, so
forgive the absence of precise quotes and citations. Beevor is relating the
still largely-unmentionable cases of mass rape of German women by the Red
Army as it swept through East Prussia towards Berlin. He offers the tricky
historian¹s balance¹ needed to appreciate the inevitable chaos-of-war and
the rage-and-revenge following the massive Nazi atrocities perpetrated. He
adds the factor of suppressed Soviet male sexual appetites, associated with
the enforced puritanical¹ streak found in Stalinism and most totalitarian
regimes. Individual love¹ being directed toward the State ... I leave these
vague notions to be refined by those more versed in the complex issues. How
did Freud and Nabokov react to Soviet suppression of sexual ¹openness?¹
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 26/01/2011 15:45, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> A.Sklyarenko: "Like Van Veen, Nabokov was ein unverbesserlicher Witzbold, but,
> Rack being a Mozart-like figure, "Baron von Wien" seems to hint at several
> characters in Pushkin's "Little Tragedies" ..." JM:... whenever Nabokov
> mentions Wien he is referring to the "Viennese quack." ( "Dr Froit of
> Signy-Mondieu-Mondieu in the Ardennes or, more likely, the same man, because
> they both came from Vienne, Isère...")
>
> JM: A rapid google-search (wiki) for the French and Austrian Vienne, Vienna,
> Wien and the "Viennois", shows that (rather surprisingly for me, when we
> leave out Freud and Von Wien), the etymology seems to inspire Aqua's ("water")
> relation to river names that indicates torrential waters. Nevertheless, I
> don't think Nabokov departed from this kind of information when he played with
> Wien and Vienna.
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/