Subject
[NABOKOV-L] A tentative report on Bend Sinister,
and Eve's Dream in Milton's Paradise Lost
and Eve's Dream in Milton's Paradise Lost
From
Date
Body
Dear List,
Chance as usual invited me to stop at Eve's dream, in John Milton's "Paradise Lost." I was, simultaneously, occupied with one item in Nabokov's "Bend Sinister" so I couldn't help wondering (sort of) if there was any connection bt. Bend Sinister's title *, the character's name Adam Krug, and Satan whispering in Eve's ear, disguiesed as a "Toad" (Adam's victim & torturer....).
I discovered NO significant links - and yet I think this could be interesting to report to the List, anyway. My amateurish research is not extensive nor it is very informed -but I'm enthralled by Robert Wiznura's "Eve's dream, Interpretation, and Shifting Paradigms."
A slight indication of J.Milton and VN related to "Bend Sinister" is present in an article by John Burt Foster (" Framing Nabokov: Modernism, Multiculturalism, World Literature" at Cycnos: revel.unice.fr/cycnos/index.html?id=1057), from which I learned that:
"Another, weightier factor underlies Nabokov's claim, made while writing " 'Bend Sinister',for the decisive importance of striking originality, as demonstrated by the novel's introduction of 'a device never yet attempted in literature.' More broadly in this spirit, he upholds that "very small number" of writers who possess "a unique, dazzling gift," like Joyce,Pushkin, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and - a more surprising name in Nabokov's lists of this kind ( SO 147/146)" A different connection bt. Nabokov and Milton, now thru ADA, derives from a review at the NYT (prelapsarianism.www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/.../nab-v-obit.html ) "Ada" (Mr. Nabokov pronounced it Ah-dah) was such a novel, and to get the most out of it, a reader could benefit from some knowledge of the theory of matter and antimatter, John Milton, T.S. Eliot, Lord Byron, Jane Austen and the 17th century English poet Andrew Marvell. Acquaintanceship with Russian and French was also helpful, not to mention an inkling of theological speculation..." (google wonders)
..............................................................................................................................................
* Ch. 10 from "Paradise Lost" emphasizes the creation of Eve from Adam's left rib. Is the crooked left rib being also indicated by VN by "Bend Sinister" ( a crooked bend left, in a literal take? ): "all but a rib/ Crooked by nature, bent, as now appears,/ More to the part sinister, from me drawn;/ Well if thrown out, as supernumerary/To my just number found. O! why did God,/ Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven/ With Spirits masculine, create at last/ This novelty on earth, this fair defect/ Of nature, and not fill the world at once/ With Men, as Angels, without feminine;/Or find some other way to generate/ Mankind? "
My answer: NO.
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/
Chance as usual invited me to stop at Eve's dream, in John Milton's "Paradise Lost." I was, simultaneously, occupied with one item in Nabokov's "Bend Sinister" so I couldn't help wondering (sort of) if there was any connection bt. Bend Sinister's title *, the character's name Adam Krug, and Satan whispering in Eve's ear, disguiesed as a "Toad" (Adam's victim & torturer....).
I discovered NO significant links - and yet I think this could be interesting to report to the List, anyway. My amateurish research is not extensive nor it is very informed -but I'm enthralled by Robert Wiznura's "Eve's dream, Interpretation, and Shifting Paradigms."
A slight indication of J.Milton and VN related to "Bend Sinister" is present in an article by John Burt Foster (" Framing Nabokov: Modernism, Multiculturalism, World Literature" at Cycnos: revel.unice.fr/cycnos/index.html?id=1057), from which I learned that:
"Another, weightier factor underlies Nabokov's claim, made while writing " 'Bend Sinister',for the decisive importance of striking originality, as demonstrated by the novel's introduction of 'a device never yet attempted in literature.' More broadly in this spirit, he upholds that "very small number" of writers who possess "a unique, dazzling gift," like Joyce,Pushkin, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and - a more surprising name in Nabokov's lists of this kind ( SO 147/146)" A different connection bt. Nabokov and Milton, now thru ADA, derives from a review at the NYT (prelapsarianism.www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/.../nab-v-obit.html ) "Ada" (Mr. Nabokov pronounced it Ah-dah) was such a novel, and to get the most out of it, a reader could benefit from some knowledge of the theory of matter and antimatter, John Milton, T.S. Eliot, Lord Byron, Jane Austen and the 17th century English poet Andrew Marvell. Acquaintanceship with Russian and French was also helpful, not to mention an inkling of theological speculation..." (google wonders)
..............................................................................................................................................
* Ch. 10 from "Paradise Lost" emphasizes the creation of Eve from Adam's left rib. Is the crooked left rib being also indicated by VN by "Bend Sinister" ( a crooked bend left, in a literal take? ): "all but a rib/ Crooked by nature, bent, as now appears,/ More to the part sinister, from me drawn;/ Well if thrown out, as supernumerary/To my just number found. O! why did God,/ Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven/ With Spirits masculine, create at last/ This novelty on earth, this fair defect/ Of nature, and not fill the world at once/ With Men, as Angels, without feminine;/Or find some other way to generate/ Mankind? "
My answer: NO.
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/