In his answer to A. Bouazza Andrew Brown wrote
:"It seems to me that VN is not referring to the Bible at all but to the
natural world — creation itself -- when he cites the work of the Almighty...VN’s
reply here, as well as what seems to be an almost total absence of Christian
reference throughout STRONG OPINIONS -- except to mention “going to church” in a
list of things he does not do — indicates that neither the Bible nor
Christianity were influential in his writing."
In my opinion,
AB is right to conclude that neither Bible nor Christianity
seem to have been influential on VN's writing.
Whatever VN quotes from the
Pauline epistles or St.John's Apocalyptic visions has apparently the same
weight as when he describes a pagan "Arcadia" in New
Wye (avoiding the biblical Eden so often cited in ADA) or
mocks certain articles of Kinbote's faith.
A. Bouazza's comment was succint since he
simply chose to insert a quote from VN in the context of our
discussion.
"A creative writer
must study carefully the works of his rivals, including the Almighty."
STRONG OPINIONS, p. 32, 1st ed.
AB added the rest of the
quoted paragraph: “He must possess the inborn capacity not only of
recombining but of recreating the given world. In order to do this ... The
artist should know the given world.” -
and his answer convinced
me that VN's "rival" does not refer to an antropomorphic godhead,
nor makes it clear that the Biblical Almighty is implied in the
concept of "a given world".
And yet, when we search for apt quotations
and phrases from VN's novels, our "objective" conclusions are quite
often in contrast with a more fluent dreamlike reading, when sounds and
images often take over one's subjectivity and, for certain readers like myself,
their cumulative effect clashes with our common-sense conclusions and,
even, with the silent chuckle provoked by Nabokov's humor.
Jansy