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Re: VN vs. Freud (fwd)
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From: "Timothy C. Richardson" <trichardson@ONLINE.EMICH.EDU>
Though I understand the penchant for Freud-bashing (the father continues to
speak, of course), I guess I have a problem with much of it. True, Nabokov
disliked (to put it mildly) Freud's work, and while I am generally not
inclined to disagree with my absolute favorite, there does seem to be some
resonance in the idea that "Freud would take away his happy childhood." As
Freud pointed out, we are never disinterested with regards to our language
(not a new idea, but in new terms--he did discover the unconscious, after
all). And there are so many similarities (interest in puns, etc.).
Geoffrey Green, of course, covers these similarities in FREUD AND NABOKOV.
Now, my question. What work has been done recently with Nabokov and Lacan
(who, for me, "fixed" much of the problems I've had with Freud)? Is the
Lacanian algebra too reductionist as well? And, what the heck, is there
anything with Lyotard? It would be nice if I could combine my age-old love
of Nabokov with my new-found (though admittedly dated) interest in theory.
Thanks in advance,
Tim Richardson
Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, MI
trichardson@online.emich.edu
>From: Brian Walter <bwalter@dobson.ozarks.edu>
>
>I no longer have the student's message that prompted this discussion, but
>if s/he is still looking for a more extensive but highly readable
>assessment of the topic, a very good place to start would be THE GARLAND
>COMPANION volume, specifically Jennifer Shute's article, "Nabokov and
>Freud" (412-20).
>
>I will also throw in here the response I got from a professor several
>years ago now when I first lobbed him the inevitable Nabokov-Freud
>question: Nabokov doesn't like him because Freud would take away his happy
>childhood. A simplified explanation, certainly, but not far off target,
>I've come to think. The idea that we are inevitably scarred by our
>childhood experiences, that we are inescapably victimized by (sexual)
>neuroses developed in the early years of life (however simplified a
>version of Freud's teaching this understanding is) must have seemed not
>only inimical to the author of SPEAK, MEMORY, but downright repulsive. The
>portrait of the father in SPEAK, MEMORY -- particularly with the "charm of
>[their] perfect accord" that Nabokov takes some pains to detail (p. 191 in
>the Vintage edition) -- seems calculated especially to undermine Oedipal
>models of the son's hateful jealousy of the father. Nabokov too much
>loved his childhood experiences and the formative influence they had on
>his artistic sensibilities to suffer even the threat of their
>characterization as the waystations of a forced march to adult neurosis.
>
>BW
>Brian Walter, Assistant Professor
>HFA-English
>University of the Ozarks
>Clarksville, AR 72830
>(501) 979-1339 or 754-3499
>bwalter@dobson.ozarks.edu
>
Though I understand the penchant for Freud-bashing (the father continues to
speak, of course), I guess I have a problem with much of it. True, Nabokov
disliked (to put it mildly) Freud's work, and while I am generally not
inclined to disagree with my absolute favorite, there does seem to be some
resonance in the idea that "Freud would take away his happy childhood." As
Freud pointed out, we are never disinterested with regards to our language
(not a new idea, but in new terms--he did discover the unconscious, after
all). And there are so many similarities (interest in puns, etc.).
Geoffrey Green, of course, covers these similarities in FREUD AND NABOKOV.
Now, my question. What work has been done recently with Nabokov and Lacan
(who, for me, "fixed" much of the problems I've had with Freud)? Is the
Lacanian algebra too reductionist as well? And, what the heck, is there
anything with Lyotard? It would be nice if I could combine my age-old love
of Nabokov with my new-found (though admittedly dated) interest in theory.
Thanks in advance,
Tim Richardson
Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, MI
trichardson@online.emich.edu
>From: Brian Walter <bwalter@dobson.ozarks.edu>
>
>I no longer have the student's message that prompted this discussion, but
>if s/he is still looking for a more extensive but highly readable
>assessment of the topic, a very good place to start would be THE GARLAND
>COMPANION volume, specifically Jennifer Shute's article, "Nabokov and
>Freud" (412-20).
>
>I will also throw in here the response I got from a professor several
>years ago now when I first lobbed him the inevitable Nabokov-Freud
>question: Nabokov doesn't like him because Freud would take away his happy
>childhood. A simplified explanation, certainly, but not far off target,
>I've come to think. The idea that we are inevitably scarred by our
>childhood experiences, that we are inescapably victimized by (sexual)
>neuroses developed in the early years of life (however simplified a
>version of Freud's teaching this understanding is) must have seemed not
>only inimical to the author of SPEAK, MEMORY, but downright repulsive. The
>portrait of the father in SPEAK, MEMORY -- particularly with the "charm of
>[their] perfect accord" that Nabokov takes some pains to detail (p. 191 in
>the Vintage edition) -- seems calculated especially to undermine Oedipal
>models of the son's hateful jealousy of the father. Nabokov too much
>loved his childhood experiences and the formative influence they had on
>his artistic sensibilities to suffer even the threat of their
>characterization as the waystations of a forced march to adult neurosis.
>
>BW
>Brian Walter, Assistant Professor
>HFA-English
>University of the Ozarks
>Clarksville, AR 72830
>(501) 979-1339 or 754-3499
>bwalter@dobson.ozarks.edu
>