Re: great minds think alike

J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Sat, 19 Sep 1998 09:51:31 -0400 (EDT)

Now, I haven't read the whole introduction, as you have, and I was really
replying to a post at that time and not Nabokov himself (really).  

In the little bit of the Nabokov I read in the post, I took it to mean
that critics have charged him with having a certain intent in his writing
that he didn't have.  It had nothing to do with a great spiritual
message, German impression, etc.  But the tone of the quote seemed to
very easily identify intent with meaning--HOWEVER, if I had read the
entire introduction I may have gotten a different impression.

I dislike psychoanalytic approaches to texts as much as Nabokov and
actually enjoyed reading that part of the quote :) BUT, we need to
understand what they're doing before we dismiss them.  They claim that
these mechanisms are in operation regardless of our conscious intent.  So
authorial claims are especially meaningless in this regard.

Jim  

>and i think Jim may have misinterpretted what nabokov was saying in 
>that
>section of the introduction.  Jim seems to have taken it to mean that 
>nabokov
>forbade anyone from interpreting the novel in any way he had not
>predetermined.  (Jim, please correct me if i'm wrong, as i'm sure you 
>will;))
>i, however, take it to mean that nabokov's intent in writing the story 
>was not
>to illuminate the world with some bit of esoteric wisdom attainable 
>only by
>some Freudian with a knowledge of German Impressionist writers.  he's 
>saying
>that writing is, in the end, an entirely selfish act.  the fact that 
>others
>may benefit in some way from this act do not change the motivation in 
>the
>slightest.  and i feel that salinger would agree with this sentiment.  
>that's
>why we can all accept that salinger has continued to write without
>publishing--his writing is and always has been selfish.  we the 
>Freudian
>public wish it were otherwise, but alas, it is not ours to decide.
>
>matt
>
>
>
>

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