EDNote: I'm quite sure I've read an article on this topic; if anyone
can send Sam Rayner the bibliographic data, he will surely be pleased.
-------- Original Message --------
This is an old thread, so I apologize if the topic has been dealt with
or
interest has died out. At any rate, it seems to me that at least some of
the novels on Sebastian's bookshelf reappear later in the work,
explaining
why the melody is "oddly familiar" to V. Two examples are found on pages
62-63 of my Vintage edition in the interview V. has with Mr. Goodman.
"Third story: Sebastian speaking of his very first novel (unpublished
and
destroyed) explained that it was about a fat young student who travels
home
to find his mother married to his uncle; this uncle, an ear-specialist,
had
murdered the student's father.
Mr. Goodman misses the joke.
Fourth: Sebastian in the summer of 1922 had overworked himself and,
suffering from hallucinations, used to see a kind of optical ghost,- a
black-robed monk moving swiftly towards him from the sky. This is a
little
harder: a short story by Chekhov."
Here you have both a reference to Hamlet as well as one to Chekhov,
bringing
in two of the books on Sebastian's shelves ("The Lady with the Dog and
Other
Stories" contains the story "The black Monk" which is referred to
here).
Perhaps someone better read than I will recognize traces of the other
novels
from his shelves in the text of RLSK. To me, the reappearance of objects
from sebastian's study, daily life, and novels in V.'s "biography"
either
highlights the fact that V is creating much of his work... or supports
the
notion that Sebastian may be the "author" of the work itself.
I am new to the list, feel free to contact me at raynersam@gmail.com
Sam Rayner