Initial Impressions

My initial impressions of Transparent Things was one of confusion, which is not surprising given the author and topic. My main struggle was figuring out who the narrators were. I knew they were shades, ghosts, specters, 'transparent things' from the beginning. The 'we' and the language changes indicated there were more than one, but the questioning of who it was made me feel the narrator was unreliable, like Kinbote and Humbert. The discussion about the narrator in class helped me a lot, and I am sure will enhance my second reading of Transparent Things.

Briefly looking for more information about the novel, I found the following on the Zembla website:

Transparent Things

Transparent Things, Nabokov's 16th novel, and 7th in English, McGraw-Hill, 1972. (Transparent Things can be found in many public libraries and is available online from Available from Amazon.com and from Barnes & Noble.)

"In matters of art, 'avant garde' means little more than conforming to some daring philistine fashion, so, when the curtain opened, Hugh was not surprised to be regaled with the sight of a naked hermit sitting on a cracked toilet in the middle of an empty stage."

Awkward American Hugh Person is sent to Switzerland to interview R., a novelist represented by the Publishing firm Person works for. He meets and falls in love with sensuous, sullen Armande, and their odd courtship and marriage, coupled with R.'s literary observations, shape the events of the novel. Diaphanous, dream-like, fleeting, Transparent Things explores the interaction between memory and observation in a delicate yet precise style.

"Once more he has managed to shape a formless, potentially threatening reality into a precise and transparent work of literary art while continually demonstrating for the benefit of attentive and imaginative readers the exact means employed for bringing about this transformation."
Simon Karlinsky

Akiko Nakata's Notes to Transparent Things [in Japanese, with images]
A Bibliography of Critical Works on Transparent Things

I love the Simon Karlinsky quote...elegant, concise, and insightful. I look forward to exploring the bibliography linked above for more discussion of the book (Hope I can find some of the articles). The Akiko Nakata site is full of interesting articles on Nabokov and his works.

Time to go be a rereader...