I wrote: "In a beautiful and much-imitated ending, Nabokov plucks us
from the plot and gives us a glimpse of his writing room in America..."
Phil responded: ... part of what gives morality its normative force is
the conviction that being moral makes a difference in the world. I will
throw caution to the wind and suggest that perhaps something similar is
the case with aesthetic works.
Martin Amis imitates Nabokov's ending in _Money_. Toward the end, Amis'
central character plays a losing chess game with Martin Amis in a pub.
Perhaps this aesthetic "frame jump" is a form of reassurance that
experiencing the novel, and its moral constraints, has made a difference.
A similar approach is employed in popular TV specials of stand up
comics: Steven Wright or George Carlin are shown leaving the theater as
the final credits roll. The camera follows them into the "off-stage"
world, perhaps to show that laughter has made a difference.
Forgive me for temporarily hijacking a thread, but I am unable to
separate moral and artistic considerations. Both seem to imply the
totality of one's being, so I tend to make the leap between the
verifiability of philosophical maxims and their exemplification in the
narrative structure of aesthetic works.
Best,
Eric
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
