Subject
Jealousy theme in VN's "Laughter in the DArk"
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Boyd" <b.boyd@auckland.ac.nz>
>
> David Buss in The Dangerous Passion: Why Jealousy is as Necessary as Love
and
> Sex (NY: Free Press, 2000) offers an evolutionary-psychological
perspective on
> jealousy, an emotion often fiercely important in VN (think of Ganin,
Smurov,
> Albinus, Humbert, Pnin, Van and Ada, Hugh, Vadim, not to mention "That in
> Aleppo Once," or Dreyer's and Hermann's pointed _failures_ to be jealous).
On
> p. 153 Buss reports that "The clinical literature brims with cases of the
> Othello syndrome inspired by a partner coming home with a trendy new
shirt,
> developing a sudden interest in hip-hop or jazz, or becoming an avid
reader of
> Updike or Nabokov." Perhaps someone is watching you warily right now
because
> of your passion for Nabokov!
>
> Buss offers an analysis of Laughter in the Dark on pp. 45-46 in terms of
the
> "evolutionary arms race" of Albinus's capacity for detecting jealousy and
> Margo's and Rex's counter-measures for evading detection that casts an
> unexpected slim shaft of light across this dark novel.
>
> Brian Boyd
>
>
From: "Brian Boyd" <b.boyd@auckland.ac.nz>
>
> David Buss in The Dangerous Passion: Why Jealousy is as Necessary as Love
and
> Sex (NY: Free Press, 2000) offers an evolutionary-psychological
perspective on
> jealousy, an emotion often fiercely important in VN (think of Ganin,
Smurov,
> Albinus, Humbert, Pnin, Van and Ada, Hugh, Vadim, not to mention "That in
> Aleppo Once," or Dreyer's and Hermann's pointed _failures_ to be jealous).
On
> p. 153 Buss reports that "The clinical literature brims with cases of the
> Othello syndrome inspired by a partner coming home with a trendy new
shirt,
> developing a sudden interest in hip-hop or jazz, or becoming an avid
reader of
> Updike or Nabokov." Perhaps someone is watching you warily right now
because
> of your passion for Nabokov!
>
> Buss offers an analysis of Laughter in the Dark on pp. 45-46 in terms of
the
> "evolutionary arms race" of Albinus's capacity for detecting jealousy and
> Margo's and Rex's counter-measures for evading detection that casts an
> unexpected slim shaft of light across this dark novel.
>
> Brian Boyd
>
>