Subject
Nabokov's abuse of "literally" as radical subjectivity
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EDNOTE. To follow through on the argument below, and notwithstanding
Dmitri Nabokov's acceptance of probable responsibility for an error in
the translation (see his posting), could VN have deliberately chosen
such a grotesque image in keeping with other surreal aspects of
Cincinnatus's confinement? SES
While puzzling over VN s "word abuse" - while employing the word
"literal" in a metaphorical way ( a usage described in my Oxford Concise
English) - I discovered a reference to what was described as
"modernist "negative aesthetics".
Although it is possible that there may have been on the part of VN a
"sleepy wink of the metaphor" ( using J. Borges words) I d like to
bring up Grishakova s observations on "Bend Sinister" to the List since
her arguments may also be applicable to what VN emplyed in "Invitation".
"According to A. Eysteinsson, who follows in Adorno's footsteps, "while
subjective experience is to be mediated through objectification, that
is, as an objective gestalt [.], this objectification, in order to
express the negativity of experience, must be constructed in a radically
"subjective" manner - it must not take the shape of "rationalized"
objective representation to which as social beings we are accustomed.
Thus, on the level of representation [...] the outside world is
forcefully objectified through all the surface elements familiar to us,
but on another level this objectification does not concur with our
habitualized perception of the "objective" world, and hence takes on the
shape of a radically subjective construct" (Eysteinsson 1990: 43)".
Cf. Marina Grishakova V.Nabokov s "Bend Sinister": A Social Message or
an Experiment with Time?
Jansy
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archive/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Dmitri Nabokov's acceptance of probable responsibility for an error in
the translation (see his posting), could VN have deliberately chosen
such a grotesque image in keeping with other surreal aspects of
Cincinnatus's confinement? SES
While puzzling over VN s "word abuse" - while employing the word
"literal" in a metaphorical way ( a usage described in my Oxford Concise
English) - I discovered a reference to what was described as
"modernist "negative aesthetics".
Although it is possible that there may have been on the part of VN a
"sleepy wink of the metaphor" ( using J. Borges words) I d like to
bring up Grishakova s observations on "Bend Sinister" to the List since
her arguments may also be applicable to what VN emplyed in "Invitation".
"According to A. Eysteinsson, who follows in Adorno's footsteps, "while
subjective experience is to be mediated through objectification, that
is, as an objective gestalt [.], this objectification, in order to
express the negativity of experience, must be constructed in a radically
"subjective" manner - it must not take the shape of "rationalized"
objective representation to which as social beings we are accustomed.
Thus, on the level of representation [...] the outside world is
forcefully objectified through all the surface elements familiar to us,
but on another level this objectification does not concur with our
habitualized perception of the "objective" world, and hence takes on the
shape of a radically subjective construct" (Eysteinsson 1990: 43)".
Cf. Marina Grishakova V.Nabokov s "Bend Sinister": A Social Message or
an Experiment with Time?
Jansy
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archive/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu