Moving ahead, from V.Nabokov's (1951)
poem "Voluptates
Tactionum"* and lines from his
novel ADA**, intrigued by what appears to me as a particular quandary
he found himself in, one that's related to the enhanced experiences
he achieves by visual and auditory "synesthaesia," because he cannot
reach them by his registers of touch, I noticed two things.
The first one relates to his prophetic visionary processings
(following Verne and Wells?) as they are at times rendered in his novels.
Compare his verses on what he named as a "Magnotack" in the
fifties and the modern researches in haptics (a word I couldn't find
in his texts until now).**
The considerable setback connecting the "magnotack" to modern
instrumentations is that, until now, it seems that haptic technology
remains dependent of visual information and therefore it isn't
applicable as a true "visual aid" to the blind, except by allowing
them to perceive (touch) things that lie in the distance.
The second one depends on my going back to the novels, and
even to some of VN's scientific articles, to be able to find elements to
ground an assertion that is related to "touch" in Nabokov.
What set me on this trail were his lines, in ADA, "a tactile sensation is a blind spot; we touch in
silhouette. "***
I remember reading that for John Updike "Nabokov writes prose the only
way it should be written – that is, ecstatically" and, for Martin
Amis, "The variety, force and richness of Nabokov's perceptions have not even
the palest rival in modern fiction. To read him in full flight is to experience
stimulation that is at once intellectual, imaginative and aesthetic, the nearest
thing to pure sensual pleasure that prose can offer".
Yes! V.Nabokov's prose is born from and engenders "sensual
pleasure" and, if this kind of "aesthesia" is his aim, then his perspective
should fail to achieve the objectiveness of traditional "scientific
writing" (but, perhaps, it could be even more faithful to the world of
nature.)
For example, should I conclude that vision allows
one to touch a distant object with one's eyes (I couldn't find
the original reference to this statement), my standpoint will not be related to
any direct "sensuous" input (albeit it's dependent on the information
obtained by my senses of vision and touch), it shall be cold and
objective, related to the world of information and thought ( my arguments
are highly disputable, but I'm awaiting a contestation here to proceed...).
However, when I observe that "a tactile sensation is a
blind spot" together with the recognition that now,
although "nothing seemed changed in one sense,
all was lost in another", I fiind myself tied to a
subjective apprehension of something that is desired
but impossible to reach in its totality: it is a permanent sign of
some sort of loss and
frustration.#
..............................................................................................................................
* - "Grouped before a Magnotack, / Clubs and families/
Will clutch everywhere/ The same compact paradise/ (In terms of touch).[ ]
Palpitating fingertips/ Will caress the flossy hair/ And investigate the
lips/Simulated in mid-air..."
** - B. Boyd's Annotations to ADA "After blinding Kim Beauharnais for
attempting to use his photographs of himself and Ada for blackmail purposes, Van
keeps him “safe and snug in a nice Home for Disabled
Professional People, where he gets from me loads of nicely brailled books on new
processes in chromophotography” (446.05-07).
** - Wikipedia: Haptic technology, or haptics, is
a tactile feedback technology which takes advantage of the sense of touch by
applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. This mechanical stimulation
can be used to assist in the creation of virtual objects in a computer
simulation, to control such virtual objects, and to enhance the remote control
of machines and devices (telerobotics). It has been described as "doing for the
sense of touch what computer graphics does for vision".[ ] The word
haptic, from the Greek ἅπτικός (haptikos), means pertaining to the sense of
touch and comes from the Greek verb ἅπτεσθαι haptesthai, meaning to contact or
to touch. [ ] Future applications of haptic technology cover a wide
spectrum of human interaction with technology. Current research focuses on the
mastery of tactile interaction with holograms and distant objects, which if
successful may result in applications and advancements in gaming, movies,
manufacturing, medical, and other industries.[ ]Future advancements in
haptic technology may create new industries that were previously not feasible
nor realistic.[ ] Researchers at the University of Tokyo are working on
adding haptic feedback to holographic projections. The feedback allows the
user to interact with a hologram and receive tactile responses as if the
holographic object were real. [ ]One currently developing medical
innovation is a central workstation used by surgeons to perform operations
remotely. [ ]Haptic technology provides tactile and resistance feedback to
surgeons as they operate the robotic device. As the surgeon makes an incision,
they feel ligaments as if working directly on the patient[ ]Haptic
technology aids in the simulation by creating a realistic environment of
touch. Much like telepresence surgery, surgeons feel simulated ligaments, or
the pressure of a virtual incision as if it were real. [An] inventor in the
United States built a "spider-sense" bodysuit, equipped with ultrasonic sensors
and haptic feedback systems, which alerts the wearer of incoming threats;
allowing them to respond to attackers even when blindfolded.
***- ADA I, ch.16: "After the first contact, so light, so mute, between
his soft lips and her softer skin had been established — high up in that dappled
tree, with only that stray ardilla daintily leavesdropping — nothing seemed
changed in one sense, all was lost in another. Such-contacts evolve their own
texture; a tactile sensation is a blind spot; we touch in silhouette.
Henceforth, at certain moments of their otherwise indolent days, in certain
recurrent circumstances of controlled madness, a secret sign was erected, a veil
drawn between him and her —[ ] — not to be removed until he got rid of what the
necessity of dissimulation kept degrading to the level of a wretched
itch."
# - I have in mind now Mikhail Epstein (in A Small
Alpine Form: Studies in Nabokov’s Short Fiction, ed. by Gene
Barabtarlo and Charles Nicol, New York: Garland Publishers (Garland
Reference Library of the Humanities, Vol. 1580), 1993, pp. 217-224.),
particularly the quote in his opening paragraph: "My
life is a perpetual good-bye to objects."
[Moia zhizn' - sploshnoe
proshchanie s predmetami...]
V. Nabokov. In Memory of
L.I.Shigaev, he'll develop more fully in his
article.