"The Name of God Has Priority": "God" and The Apophatic Element in Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire
However one might interpret Vladimir Nabokov's self-styled "utter indifference" to religion, mysticism, and theology, his 1962 metafictional masterpiece, Pale Fire, betrays a measured though nonetheless peculiar engagement with theological ideas and sources. Focusing on the novel'...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Oxford University Press
2022
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In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2022, Volume: 36, Issue: 3, Pages: 298-315 |
IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history NBC Doctrine of God |
Further subjects: | B
Augustine
B Vladimir Nabokov B Thomas Aquinas B Apophasis B Pale Fire |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | However one might interpret Vladimir Nabokov's self-styled "utter indifference" to religion, mysticism, and theology, his 1962 metafictional masterpiece, Pale Fire, betrays a measured though nonetheless peculiar engagement with theological ideas and sources. Focusing on the novel's theological centre - Charles Kinbote's note to line 549 of John Shade's poem ("While snubbing gods, including the big G'), which records Kinbote's conversation with Shade on 23 June 1959 about religion and God - this article uncovers Pale Fire's direct engagement with core tenets of the apophatic theologies of St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas, and argues, moreover, that this works to highlight the analogy which the novel seeks to express between theological and literary discourse. |
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ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frac019 |