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Re: [Thoughts] Art's higher level - the indispensable DB Johnson
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As promised, prompted by Matt Roth and M. Couturier, I picked up D.Barton Johnson's "Worlds in Regression: Some Novels of Vladimir Nabokov", 1985, Ardis Publishers.
Anyone who is following this thread about romantics and incest in Nabokov cannot miss the delightful and informative experience of reading "Nabokov as Maze Maker", in "The Labyrynth of Incest in Ada" (116-134) (his other essays on incest are a future treat for me to recover, thanks to the friend who got me a pristine edition of DBJ's book)
First line: "The theme of incest makes its first major appearance in Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle. Like other "mandarin" writers, Nabokv wrote with an informed awareness of the literary treatments of his themes. Allusions to such predecessors, both classic and commercial, is a hallmark of his style, and Ada is the most allusive of all Nabokov novels - the consummate work of a writer who was also a professor of Modern European Literature."
In the next paragraphs he continues: " The .appearance of the theme of sibling incest in modern European literature is largely coincident with the rise of Romanticism whose principal French and English writers, Vicomte François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) and Lord Byron (1788-1824) explored the forbidden theme in their works and, possibly, in their lives".
In the next paragraph we read: "Ada is a literature survey course that draws its primary subject matter from the three literatures that the trilingual Nabokov saw as paramount: French, English and russian. In this literary triptych Chateaubriand may be said to represent the French incarnation of the sibling incest theme and Byron, the English. But what of Russian? Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) occupies in Russian literature a position in some ways corresponding to Chateaubriand in Frencyh, and Byron in English literature (from this part onwards he devotes several paragraphs to prove his point concerning Pushkin, his project of writing a Family Chronicle, Nabokov's ADA and the genealogy presented and manipulated in it ).
On p.119, more explcitly: "This much is clear: the English Byron an the French Chateaubriand, with their fictional and biographical theme of sibling incest, are part of the literary subtext of Nabokov's ADA [ ] Thus the Russian Pushkin, the French Chateaubriand, and the English Byron, all serve as sources of literary resonance for the sibling incest theme in Ada. Nabokov's tribute to European Romanticism. (I'll underline one word: "tribute")
DBJohnson also investigates German myths (Siegmund/Sieglinde/Siegfried, for example, from the Nibelungen) 'He cites Thomas Mann's 1905 "Wälsusngenblut" (but not "The Holy Sinner" or "Der Erwählte", concerning father/child incest) and reaches Frank Theiss ("Bruder und Schwester") in German in the 1920s.
On p.130 he quotes Bobby Ann Mason. " Some critics see the meaning of Ada's incest theme in the area of moral philosophy. Bobbie Ann Mason avers that: "Ada is about incest and...incest... is virtually synonymous with solipsism" (this idea has been broached upon in Matt Roth's post when quoting. Peter Thorslev.)
The quote from the 1969 Interview lies on p.131:he adds: "If Nabokov is to be believed, his comment would seem to explode any hope of relating Ada's sibling incest theme to the generalities of anthropology. psychology or philosophy - moral or immoral. The meaning of the novel's central thematic metaphor must be sought elsewhere..."'
Now I must proceed with my awed reading which I interrupted at this point.
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Anyone who is following this thread about romantics and incest in Nabokov cannot miss the delightful and informative experience of reading "Nabokov as Maze Maker", in "The Labyrynth of Incest in Ada" (116-134) (his other essays on incest are a future treat for me to recover, thanks to the friend who got me a pristine edition of DBJ's book)
First line: "The theme of incest makes its first major appearance in Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle. Like other "mandarin" writers, Nabokv wrote with an informed awareness of the literary treatments of his themes. Allusions to such predecessors, both classic and commercial, is a hallmark of his style, and Ada is the most allusive of all Nabokov novels - the consummate work of a writer who was also a professor of Modern European Literature."
In the next paragraphs he continues: " The .appearance of the theme of sibling incest in modern European literature is largely coincident with the rise of Romanticism whose principal French and English writers, Vicomte François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) and Lord Byron (1788-1824) explored the forbidden theme in their works and, possibly, in their lives".
In the next paragraph we read: "Ada is a literature survey course that draws its primary subject matter from the three literatures that the trilingual Nabokov saw as paramount: French, English and russian. In this literary triptych Chateaubriand may be said to represent the French incarnation of the sibling incest theme and Byron, the English. But what of Russian? Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) occupies in Russian literature a position in some ways corresponding to Chateaubriand in Frencyh, and Byron in English literature (from this part onwards he devotes several paragraphs to prove his point concerning Pushkin, his project of writing a Family Chronicle, Nabokov's ADA and the genealogy presented and manipulated in it ).
On p.119, more explcitly: "This much is clear: the English Byron an the French Chateaubriand, with their fictional and biographical theme of sibling incest, are part of the literary subtext of Nabokov's ADA [ ] Thus the Russian Pushkin, the French Chateaubriand, and the English Byron, all serve as sources of literary resonance for the sibling incest theme in Ada. Nabokov's tribute to European Romanticism. (I'll underline one word: "tribute")
DBJohnson also investigates German myths (Siegmund/Sieglinde/Siegfried, for example, from the Nibelungen) 'He cites Thomas Mann's 1905 "Wälsusngenblut" (but not "The Holy Sinner" or "Der Erwählte", concerning father/child incest) and reaches Frank Theiss ("Bruder und Schwester") in German in the 1920s.
On p.130 he quotes Bobby Ann Mason. " Some critics see the meaning of Ada's incest theme in the area of moral philosophy. Bobbie Ann Mason avers that: "Ada is about incest and...incest... is virtually synonymous with solipsism" (this idea has been broached upon in Matt Roth's post when quoting. Peter Thorslev.)
The quote from the 1969 Interview lies on p.131:he adds: "If Nabokov is to be believed, his comment would seem to explode any hope of relating Ada's sibling incest theme to the generalities of anthropology. psychology or philosophy - moral or immoral. The meaning of the novel's central thematic metaphor must be sought elsewhere..."'
Now I must proceed with my awed reading which I interrupted at this point.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/