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Fw: Nabokov and the "Collective Unconscious"
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer Parsons" <jdparsons@shaw.ca>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (56
lines) ------------------
> It's killing me because I can't remember where I read VN's views on
> Jung's "collective unconscious" - possibly in a lecture or an
> introduction to one of his translated novels - but I remember reading
> somewhere that he thought the idea that we dream in "universal symbols"
> - say those found in Greek myths "common to us all" - is a stupid one,
> considering when we dream our thinking processes are in fact somewhat
> "retarded" if anything, and therefore not likely to produce these
> perfect 'archetypes' from myths which may in fact not even be meaningful
> or even known to the dreamer, and even if they are, much too neat to
> likely be wrapped up and presented thusly - in symbolic form - to us in
> our chaotic, crazed and highly individual dreams.
>
> This is how he describes his own nightmare, in interview reported in
> S.O.
>
> "About twice a week I have a good, long nightmare with unpleasant
> characters imported from earlier dreams, appearing in more or less
> iterative surroundings - kaleidoscopic arrangements of broken
> impressions, fragments of day thoughts, and irresponsible mechanical
> images, utterly lacking any possible Freudian implication or
> explication, but singularly akin to the procession of changing figures
> that one usually sees on the inner palpebral screen when closing one's
> weary eyes."
>
> Also recall, however, he did enjoy recounting the night's dreams to Vera
> at breakfast table (without Freud and Jung, delighting in their
> absences).
>
> (Will continue to hunt for his remarks, however expect someone will find
> and kindly send in to the List long before I succeed, rendering the
> search unnecessary.)
>
> Jennifer
>
> "D. Barton Johnson" wrote:
> >
> > EDNOTE: Suellen Stringer-Hye is, inter alia, compiler of many
collections
> > of VN in popular culture. See ZEMBLA for her collations.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Suellen Stringer-Hye" <Stringers@LIBRARY.Vanderbilt.edu>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (12
> > lines) ------------------
> > > All,
> > >
> > > I remember once reading a Nabokovian criticism of the Jungian
> > > notion of a "Collective Unconscious" but can't remember where.
> > > Does anyone else?
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks, Suellen Suellen Stringer-Hye
> > > Jean and Alexander Heard Library
> > > Vanderbilt University
> > > stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu
> > >
From: "Jennifer Parsons" <jdparsons@shaw.ca>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (56
lines) ------------------
> It's killing me because I can't remember where I read VN's views on
> Jung's "collective unconscious" - possibly in a lecture or an
> introduction to one of his translated novels - but I remember reading
> somewhere that he thought the idea that we dream in "universal symbols"
> - say those found in Greek myths "common to us all" - is a stupid one,
> considering when we dream our thinking processes are in fact somewhat
> "retarded" if anything, and therefore not likely to produce these
> perfect 'archetypes' from myths which may in fact not even be meaningful
> or even known to the dreamer, and even if they are, much too neat to
> likely be wrapped up and presented thusly - in symbolic form - to us in
> our chaotic, crazed and highly individual dreams.
>
> This is how he describes his own nightmare, in interview reported in
> S.O.
>
> "About twice a week I have a good, long nightmare with unpleasant
> characters imported from earlier dreams, appearing in more or less
> iterative surroundings - kaleidoscopic arrangements of broken
> impressions, fragments of day thoughts, and irresponsible mechanical
> images, utterly lacking any possible Freudian implication or
> explication, but singularly akin to the procession of changing figures
> that one usually sees on the inner palpebral screen when closing one's
> weary eyes."
>
> Also recall, however, he did enjoy recounting the night's dreams to Vera
> at breakfast table (without Freud and Jung, delighting in their
> absences).
>
> (Will continue to hunt for his remarks, however expect someone will find
> and kindly send in to the List long before I succeed, rendering the
> search unnecessary.)
>
> Jennifer
>
> "D. Barton Johnson" wrote:
> >
> > EDNOTE: Suellen Stringer-Hye is, inter alia, compiler of many
collections
> > of VN in popular culture. See ZEMBLA for her collations.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Suellen Stringer-Hye" <Stringers@LIBRARY.Vanderbilt.edu>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (12
> > lines) ------------------
> > > All,
> > >
> > > I remember once reading a Nabokovian criticism of the Jungian
> > > notion of a "Collective Unconscious" but can't remember where.
> > > Does anyone else?
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks, Suellen Suellen Stringer-Hye
> > > Jean and Alexander Heard Library
> > > Vanderbilt University
> > > stringers@library.vanderbilt.edu
> > >