Subject
NABOKOVIAN GIFTS
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. The holiday season is upon us. What better way to spread
joy than by sharing your literary passion with your friends? Two
possibilities:
1. An annual membership in the International Vladimir Nabokov Society for
a modest $15. This includes the twice-yearly publication THE NABOKOVIAN,
edited by Professor Stephen Parker. Write to THE NABOKOVIAN, Slavic
Languages & Literatures, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045.
AND/OR
2. NABOKOV STUDIES, the annual journal of the International
Vladimir Nabokov Society, is essential for all Nabokov specialists. I urge
that you subscribe and, even more importantly, that you request your
college or university library to do so.
D. Barton Johnson, Editor NABOKV-L
-------------------------
Please send your NABOKOV STUDIES orders to:
Zoran Kuzmanovich, Editor
NABOKOV STUDIES <nabokov@davidson.edu>
English Department
Davidson College
Davidson North Carolina 28036
Please make out checks in U.S. funds, drawn on a U.S. bank (or a
bank with U.S. representation), for $25.50 for the new issue. A three year
subscription for the 1996, 1997, 1998 issues is available for $72.00.
Foreign subscriptions, add $4 per year. Institutional rate: $35.50 per
volume. As well as your personal orders, please ask your university
libraries to subscribe. Checks for vol. III should be made out to NABOKOV
STUDIES. Please indicate the volume number on your check.
Back issues of NABOKOV STUDIES #1 (1994) and #2 (1995) are
available from either Zoran Kuzmanovich at the above address (checks
payable to Zoran Kuzmanovich), or from Stephen Parker, Secretary/Treasurer
of the International Vladimir Nabokov Society, c/o Dept. of Slavic
Languages & Literatures, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045.
Vol. I (1994) is $21 [233pp]; vol. II (1995) -- $28 [308pp.]. Checks to
Stephen Parker should be payable to the International Vladimir Nabokov
Society. Orders for volume I (only) are also available from D. Barton
Johnson, Dept. of Germanic, Slavic & Semitic Studies, Phelps Hall, Univ.
of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.Checks payable to D. Barton Johnson.
Sample articles from volumes I, II, & II are available on the
Nabokov WWW-site. http://www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/nabokov/nsintro.htm
>From Vol. I: Leona Toker, "Liberal Ironists and the 'Gaudily Painted
Savage': On Richard Rorty's Reading of Vladimir Nabokov"
>From Vol. II: Brian Boyd, "'Even Homais Nods': Nabokov's Fallibility or
How to Revise LOLITA"
>From Vol. III Thomas Seifrid, "Nabokov's Poetics of Vision or What _Anna
Karenina_ is Doing in _Kamera obskura_ (Laughter in the Dark).
>From Vol. IV Brian Boyd, "Shape and Shade in Nabokov's PALE FIRE.
The Table of Contents for volume IV follows.
-----------------------------------------------------------
NABOKOV STUDIES (Vol. 4, 1997)
Table of Contents
From the Editor vii
Contributors x
Articles
D. Barton Johnson 1
That Butterfly in Nabokov's Nabokov's _Eye_
Julian Connolly 15
Nabokov's Dialogue with Dostoevsky:
_Lolita_ and "The Gentle Creature"
Priscilla Meyer 37
_Despair_ and _The Real Life of Sebastian Knight_
as Doubles
Stephen H. Blackwell 61
Fated Freedoms:
Textual Form and Metaphysical Texture in Nabokov
Anna Brodsky 95
Homosexuality and the Aesthetic of Nabokov's _Dar_
Anat Ben-Amos 117
The Role of Literature in _The Gift_
Svetlana Polsky 151
Vladimir Nabokov's Short Story "Easter Rain"
Vladimir Mylnikov 163
The Nature of Textual Binarity: Nabokov's "Christmas"
Forum
Brian Boyd 173
Shade and Shape in _Pale Fire_
Amy Spungen 225
A Response to Sarah Herbold
Sarah Herbold 231
A Response to Amy Spungen
Reviews
Nassim Winnie Berdjis. Imagery in Vladimir Nabokov's Last Russian
Novel (Dar), Its English Translation (The Gift), and Other Prose
Works. (1995)
Review by Priscilla Meyer 237
Boris Nosik. Mir I Dar Nabokova. Pervaia Russkaia Biografiia
Pisatelia. (1995)
Review by Simon Karlinsky 239
_Lolita_. Read by Jeremy Irons. (1997)
Review by Zoran Kuzmanovich 243
Richard Corliss. _Lolita_ (1995)
Review by Zoran Kuzmanovich 247
Galya Diment. _Pniniad: Vladimir Nabokov and Marc Szeftel.
(1997
Review by Gerard de Vries 250
Svetlana Polsky. Smert' i bessmertie v russikh rasskazakh Vladimira
Nabokova. (1997)
Review by Paul Morris 253
Index 258
-------------------------------------------------------
SELECTED ABSTRACTS
Brian Boyd.............."Shade and Shape in Pale Fire"
Pale Fire has settled--the first impression (Shade and Kinbote as
distinct and responsible respectively for poem and apparatus criticus),
Shade as covert author of the whole, Kinbote as covert author, and an
irresolvable oscillation between the last two positions--before showing
what makes the last three positions impossible and the first inadequate.
The article then reconsiders the sequence of Kinbote's thinking (the
Gradus parts of his fantasy could have arisen only after Shade's
death)and the particularly close association of Gradus and Shade, in
details like birthday, name, the Sudarg of Bokay--windowpane links, and
in the emphatic counterpointing of the Gradus story and the composition
of the poem (curious, when Kinbote stresses counterpoint as a
particularly Shadean device), and suggests that if Shade's shade has
helped shape the Gradus fantasy in Kinbote's mind, that would account
for the uncanny echoes many have caught passing between the two voices
in the novel.
The article is the first chapter to appear of a book called Nabokov's
Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Dicovery.
-----------------------
Stephen H. Blackwell, University of Tennessee, Knoxville......
"Fated Freedoms: Textual Form and Metaphysical Texture in Nabokov"
Nabokov's fate appears as the benevolent force guiding Fyodor and Zina
together in The Gift, or still more blithely personified as Aubry McFate
in Lolita. This study explores the two main traditions of fate
(predestination and divine intervention) as they are activated in several
novels, tracing at the same time these traditions' cultural origins and
their interaction with other major themes in the works. Not merely a
theme or character, "fate" possesses far-reaching metaphorical
implications for our understanding of Nabokov's fictional world. The
tight analogy between a Nabokovian understanding of "text" and his
representation of fate leads to a suggestive model that provides insight
into the role of texture within the author's implied metaphysics.
--------------------------------------
Priscilla Meyer..................... "Black and Violet Words: Despair and
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight as Doubles"
Nabokov has carefully constructed Despair and RLSK as doubles of each
other, connecting them as negative and positive variants of his views on
death and immortality. Motifs, images, themes and plot elements link the
novels--the violet motif, the myth of Narcissus, portraits of the heroes
(Ardalion?s and Roy Carswell?s), leaves reflected in water, the stick and
the cane, spiders, business failures, dogs. Hermann?s petty pessimism (the
missed stick) is answered by Sebastian?s ?optimystics? in RLSK, in which
Nabokov gives hope of a higher power shaping human existence and affirms
the afterlife.
-----------------------------------------------------
Julian W. Connolly, University of Virginia............
"Nabokov's Dialogue with Dostoevsky: _Lolita_ and 'The Gentle
Creature'"
Vladimir Nabokov's artistic relationship to his 19th-century predecessor
Fyodor Dostoevsky was a contentious one. Several of Nabokov's works, from
_Despair_ to _Lolita_, display a competitive spirit: the writer uses
characteristic Dostoevskian elements to beat the master at his own game.
This seems particularly true of _Lolita_, a novel rich with intertextual
references to works of Russian literature. One of the most interesting of
these is Dostoevsky's "The Gentle Creature" ("Krotkaia"), the tale of a
41-year old man's marriage to a 16-year old girl. Narrated by the husband,
the story provides a disturbing account of the older man's abusive
treatment of his young bride. This essay outlines the distinctive ways in
which Nabokov's novel reproduces core elements of the Dostoevsky story, and
it attempts to explain how and why Nabokov reshapes Dostoevsky's unusual text.
joy than by sharing your literary passion with your friends? Two
possibilities:
1. An annual membership in the International Vladimir Nabokov Society for
a modest $15. This includes the twice-yearly publication THE NABOKOVIAN,
edited by Professor Stephen Parker. Write to THE NABOKOVIAN, Slavic
Languages & Literatures, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045.
AND/OR
2. NABOKOV STUDIES, the annual journal of the International
Vladimir Nabokov Society, is essential for all Nabokov specialists. I urge
that you subscribe and, even more importantly, that you request your
college or university library to do so.
D. Barton Johnson, Editor NABOKV-L
-------------------------
Please send your NABOKOV STUDIES orders to:
Zoran Kuzmanovich, Editor
NABOKOV STUDIES <nabokov@davidson.edu>
English Department
Davidson College
Davidson North Carolina 28036
Please make out checks in U.S. funds, drawn on a U.S. bank (or a
bank with U.S. representation), for $25.50 for the new issue. A three year
subscription for the 1996, 1997, 1998 issues is available for $72.00.
Foreign subscriptions, add $4 per year. Institutional rate: $35.50 per
volume. As well as your personal orders, please ask your university
libraries to subscribe. Checks for vol. III should be made out to NABOKOV
STUDIES. Please indicate the volume number on your check.
Back issues of NABOKOV STUDIES #1 (1994) and #2 (1995) are
available from either Zoran Kuzmanovich at the above address (checks
payable to Zoran Kuzmanovich), or from Stephen Parker, Secretary/Treasurer
of the International Vladimir Nabokov Society, c/o Dept. of Slavic
Languages & Literatures, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045.
Vol. I (1994) is $21 [233pp]; vol. II (1995) -- $28 [308pp.]. Checks to
Stephen Parker should be payable to the International Vladimir Nabokov
Society. Orders for volume I (only) are also available from D. Barton
Johnson, Dept. of Germanic, Slavic & Semitic Studies, Phelps Hall, Univ.
of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.Checks payable to D. Barton Johnson.
Sample articles from volumes I, II, & II are available on the
Nabokov WWW-site. http://www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/nabokov/nsintro.htm
>From Vol. I: Leona Toker, "Liberal Ironists and the 'Gaudily Painted
Savage': On Richard Rorty's Reading of Vladimir Nabokov"
>From Vol. II: Brian Boyd, "'Even Homais Nods': Nabokov's Fallibility or
How to Revise LOLITA"
>From Vol. III Thomas Seifrid, "Nabokov's Poetics of Vision or What _Anna
Karenina_ is Doing in _Kamera obskura_ (Laughter in the Dark).
>From Vol. IV Brian Boyd, "Shape and Shade in Nabokov's PALE FIRE.
The Table of Contents for volume IV follows.
-----------------------------------------------------------
NABOKOV STUDIES (Vol. 4, 1997)
Table of Contents
From the Editor vii
Contributors x
Articles
D. Barton Johnson 1
That Butterfly in Nabokov's Nabokov's _Eye_
Julian Connolly 15
Nabokov's Dialogue with Dostoevsky:
_Lolita_ and "The Gentle Creature"
Priscilla Meyer 37
_Despair_ and _The Real Life of Sebastian Knight_
as Doubles
Stephen H. Blackwell 61
Fated Freedoms:
Textual Form and Metaphysical Texture in Nabokov
Anna Brodsky 95
Homosexuality and the Aesthetic of Nabokov's _Dar_
Anat Ben-Amos 117
The Role of Literature in _The Gift_
Svetlana Polsky 151
Vladimir Nabokov's Short Story "Easter Rain"
Vladimir Mylnikov 163
The Nature of Textual Binarity: Nabokov's "Christmas"
Forum
Brian Boyd 173
Shade and Shape in _Pale Fire_
Amy Spungen 225
A Response to Sarah Herbold
Sarah Herbold 231
A Response to Amy Spungen
Reviews
Nassim Winnie Berdjis. Imagery in Vladimir Nabokov's Last Russian
Novel (Dar), Its English Translation (The Gift), and Other Prose
Works. (1995)
Review by Priscilla Meyer 237
Boris Nosik. Mir I Dar Nabokova. Pervaia Russkaia Biografiia
Pisatelia. (1995)
Review by Simon Karlinsky 239
_Lolita_. Read by Jeremy Irons. (1997)
Review by Zoran Kuzmanovich 243
Richard Corliss. _Lolita_ (1995)
Review by Zoran Kuzmanovich 247
Galya Diment. _Pniniad: Vladimir Nabokov and Marc Szeftel.
(1997
Review by Gerard de Vries 250
Svetlana Polsky. Smert' i bessmertie v russikh rasskazakh Vladimira
Nabokova. (1997)
Review by Paul Morris 253
Index 258
-------------------------------------------------------
SELECTED ABSTRACTS
Brian Boyd.............."Shade and Shape in Pale Fire"
Pale Fire has settled--the first impression (Shade and Kinbote as
distinct and responsible respectively for poem and apparatus criticus),
Shade as covert author of the whole, Kinbote as covert author, and an
irresolvable oscillation between the last two positions--before showing
what makes the last three positions impossible and the first inadequate.
The article then reconsiders the sequence of Kinbote's thinking (the
Gradus parts of his fantasy could have arisen only after Shade's
death)and the particularly close association of Gradus and Shade, in
details like birthday, name, the Sudarg of Bokay--windowpane links, and
in the emphatic counterpointing of the Gradus story and the composition
of the poem (curious, when Kinbote stresses counterpoint as a
particularly Shadean device), and suggests that if Shade's shade has
helped shape the Gradus fantasy in Kinbote's mind, that would account
for the uncanny echoes many have caught passing between the two voices
in the novel.
The article is the first chapter to appear of a book called Nabokov's
Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Dicovery.
-----------------------
Stephen H. Blackwell, University of Tennessee, Knoxville......
"Fated Freedoms: Textual Form and Metaphysical Texture in Nabokov"
Nabokov's fate appears as the benevolent force guiding Fyodor and Zina
together in The Gift, or still more blithely personified as Aubry McFate
in Lolita. This study explores the two main traditions of fate
(predestination and divine intervention) as they are activated in several
novels, tracing at the same time these traditions' cultural origins and
their interaction with other major themes in the works. Not merely a
theme or character, "fate" possesses far-reaching metaphorical
implications for our understanding of Nabokov's fictional world. The
tight analogy between a Nabokovian understanding of "text" and his
representation of fate leads to a suggestive model that provides insight
into the role of texture within the author's implied metaphysics.
--------------------------------------
Priscilla Meyer..................... "Black and Violet Words: Despair and
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight as Doubles"
Nabokov has carefully constructed Despair and RLSK as doubles of each
other, connecting them as negative and positive variants of his views on
death and immortality. Motifs, images, themes and plot elements link the
novels--the violet motif, the myth of Narcissus, portraits of the heroes
(Ardalion?s and Roy Carswell?s), leaves reflected in water, the stick and
the cane, spiders, business failures, dogs. Hermann?s petty pessimism (the
missed stick) is answered by Sebastian?s ?optimystics? in RLSK, in which
Nabokov gives hope of a higher power shaping human existence and affirms
the afterlife.
-----------------------------------------------------
Julian W. Connolly, University of Virginia............
"Nabokov's Dialogue with Dostoevsky: _Lolita_ and 'The Gentle
Creature'"
Vladimir Nabokov's artistic relationship to his 19th-century predecessor
Fyodor Dostoevsky was a contentious one. Several of Nabokov's works, from
_Despair_ to _Lolita_, display a competitive spirit: the writer uses
characteristic Dostoevskian elements to beat the master at his own game.
This seems particularly true of _Lolita_, a novel rich with intertextual
references to works of Russian literature. One of the most interesting of
these is Dostoevsky's "The Gentle Creature" ("Krotkaia"), the tale of a
41-year old man's marriage to a 16-year old girl. Narrated by the husband,
the story provides a disturbing account of the older man's abusive
treatment of his young bride. This essay outlines the distinctive ways in
which Nabokov's novel reproduces core elements of the Dostoevsky story, and
it attempts to explain how and why Nabokov reshapes Dostoevsky's unusual text.