conjectures related to: ."Phyllis Greenacre was American born and I'm not familiar with
the development of psychoanalytic theories in America ...I have nothing of value
to add.From VN's commentaries in "Pale Fire," related to Oskar Pfister (who was
as as Swiss as Carl Gustav Jung)*, I got the vague impression that Nabokov's
readings took place in the early twenties or thirties, or focused mainly on
European texts. The field for conjectures, however, is wide
open!
and to CK's Cedarn cave notebook: "Alas, I find only two items preserved in my notebook: / By
picking the nose in spite of all commands to the contrary, or when a youth is
all the time sticking his finger through his buttonhole... the analytic teacher
knows that the appetite of the lustful one knows no limit in his
phantasies.(Quoted by Prof. C. from Dr. Oskar Pfister, The Psychoanalytical
Method, 1917, N.Y., p. 79) The little cap of red velvet in the German
version of Little Red Riding Hood is a symbol of menstruation./ (Quoted by Prof.
C. from Erich Fromm, The Forgotten Language, 1951, N.Y., p. 240.) /Do those
clowns really believe what they teach?":
Jansy Mello: The two quotations,
attributed to Prof. C, that Kinbote kept with him in his exile are
strangely spaced in time (1917 and 1951) and, although their original sources
were carefully preserved, the actual lecture, article or book by Prof. C, from
which they were copied, is not presented.
These annotations might have been made, at various
times, by Vladimir Nabokov himself and kept in his "shoe-box" of curious
informations. In this case, could Prof. C indicate some part of VN's readings
of psychoanalytic texts? (Prof. C. as an aspect of the author of PF, I
mean).
I tried to find the Swiss(?) "The
Psychoanalytical Method" by Oskar Pfister, but I could only reach the
American translation and found no further indications about it.
Nabokovs choice ( European Pfister, emigré Frommm) is
rather interesting. Are the dates 1917-1951 related and the events they point to
subjected to some sort of satire? (Russian revolution
and...?).