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Re: Dead and living authors
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Simon Rowbery: "Is it not Nabokov himself who enacts Barthes' 'death of the author' in Pale Fire? I believe it is the novel whose criticism has moved beyond the intentions of Nabokov the most within his canon because of the death of his authority in the novel, predominantly by writing a novel of such complexity with multiple characters in various fictional worlds. In Pale Fire, however, it can only be said that the death of the author leads to the birth of the re-reader. Something that Nabokov would appreciate. Perhaps this is where the ideologies converge with their focus on re-reading a text."
JM: Good point on "the death of the author leads to the birth of the re-reader" and the convergence of several ideologies taking place - independently of Nabokov's original intention.
Just as it happened when I read James Twiggs assertion that the death of Shade is "not illustrative of any such general idea as Barthes' "death of the author," I must puzzle over the meaning of "enact the 'death of the author'. " I'm probably wrong in my assumption... For me, the "death of the author" isn't an enacted posture, a strategy which may be technically applied over a text, but it'd come closer to a Weltanschauung or an "ideology," as you described it further on, admitting its "inevitability" in a complex novel with various fictional worlds, and inspite of Nabokov's deliberate control over his text.
This is why I considered it possible that Nabokov used the expression in a satirical vein for he'd not accept his "disappearance" from his novel: let his characters suffer death, not their creator. For him a bigger Gradus is necessary...
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JM: Good point on "the death of the author leads to the birth of the re-reader" and the convergence of several ideologies taking place - independently of Nabokov's original intention.
Just as it happened when I read James Twiggs assertion that the death of Shade is "not illustrative of any such general idea as Barthes' "death of the author," I must puzzle over the meaning of "enact the 'death of the author'. " I'm probably wrong in my assumption... For me, the "death of the author" isn't an enacted posture, a strategy which may be technically applied over a text, but it'd come closer to a Weltanschauung or an "ideology," as you described it further on, admitting its "inevitability" in a complex novel with various fictional worlds, and inspite of Nabokov's deliberate control over his text.
This is why I considered it possible that Nabokov used the expression in a satirical vein for he'd not accept his "disappearance" from his novel: let his characters suffer death, not their creator. For him a bigger Gradus is necessary...
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/