Nooteboom and Nabokov

I LOVE THE FOLLOWING STORY! I read it in 2 hours this past weekend and can't wait to read it again. Thus far this semester this is my favorite work, but then again I have only read three of our six novels fully.

One thing about this novel that I love in particular is the connection it has with Nabokov's Transpart Things. Obviously there is the connection with the qoute that begins part two, but I was thinking about Nabokvo while I read this even before that point. There are also more connections then that alone throughout the work, and Nooteboom's writing refelcts the fact that he has read a lot of Nabokov himself.

The Following Story to me emerges fully out of Transparent Things and Nabokov's writing style. Nooteboom seems to question and strive to understand the other worldly as Nabokv does. The buring question of life after death, or what coms when we finally cross to the other side. "This is, I believe, it: not the crude anguish of physical death but the incomparable pangs of the mysterious mental maneuver needed to pass from one state of being to another."

Nooteboom also uses literary allusions to guide his readers as Nabokov does. His are not so much clues as Nabokov's were, guiding us through the maze of his tales, but details that add to the aesthetic of the tale. What really intrigued me though in Nooteboom is that like Nabokov's Transparent Things we are in all three tenses. Both his characters and readers are always in past, present and future all at once. Using Herman's flahbacks and dreams gives us, as readers, a chance to see where Herman was and perhaps where he is going.

Nooteboom also blatantly has his narrator talk directly to his reader. Noabokov was more subtle using Hugh->You, but in the end Nooteboom just comes out and says "You." Leaving no ending punctuation so that the story hangs in the air waiting to be completed. Then there is of course the supernatural element to be explored and discussed as well, OY!

I have not looked into this connection as completely as I would like, but that will come as we discuss the novel more in class. Another favorite from Dr. Sexson to add to the list. Perhaps a paper topic?!