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Bajo El Signo De Proteo. Estudio Comparado De Temas Y Motivos En Universidad de Granada Facultad de Filosofía y Letras Departamento de Lingüística General y Teoría de la Literatura Área de Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada BAJO EL SIGNO DE PROTEO ESTUDIO COMPARADO DE TEMAS Y MOTIVOS EN LAS OBRAS DE J. L. BORGES Y V. NABOKOV Tesis Doctoral presentada por Nina Kressova Director: Dr. Manuel Cáceres Sánchez Codirectora: Dra. Marina Grishakova (Universidad de Tartu, Estonia) Granada, 2007 Editor: Editorial de la Universidad de Granada Autor: Nina Kressova D.L.: Gr. 1200 - 2007 ISBN: 978-84-338-4346-3 ÍNDICE INTRODUCCIÓN ...........……06 1. TEMA Y OBJETIVOS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN ...........……08 2. ESTADO DE LA CUESTIÓN …...………11 3. COMPOSICIÓN DEL TRABAJO …..…….…19 4. USO DE LAS FUENTES BIBLIOGRÁFICAS ...…………20 5. LISTADO DE ABREVIATURAS …...………21 PRIMERA PARTE: BIOGRAFÍA, FORMACIÓN, CÍRCULO DE INTERESES Y POSIBLES VÍNCULOS ENTRE BORGES Y NABOKOV …...………26 CAPÍTULO I: DOS LÍNEAS DE FUGA EN LA PERSPECTIVA DEL SIGLO XX …...………28 1. INFANCIA …...………28 2. ADOLESCENCIA Y JUVENTUD …...………32 3. ESCRITORES DE PROFESIÓN CON EL ESPÍRITU DE CIENTÍFICOS …...………34 CAPÍTULO II: BORGES Y NABOKOV: QUÉ LEEN, OPINAN Y COMENTAN …...………42 1. LIBROS Y AUTORES EN LA VIDA Y OBRA DE BORGES Y NABOKOV …...………42 2. CÍRCULO DE LECTURAS: ANÁLISIS COMPARADO Shakespeare (60); William James (62); James Joyce (74); Don Quijote (79); Stevenson (82); Kafka (85) …...………58 CAPÍTULO III: INTERCAMBIO DE REVERENCIAS O HISTORIA DE UN DESENCUENTRO …...………88 BIOGRAFÍA, FORMACIÓN, CÍRCULO DE INTERESES Y …...………93 POSIBLES VÍNCULOS ENTRE BORGES Y NABOKOV: CONCLUSIÓN SEGUNDA PARTE: ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO DE LOS UNIVERSOS POÉTICOS DE BORGES Y NABOKOV: TEMAS Y MOTIVOS. …...……..100 1. SOBRE LOS TÉRMINOS ‘TEMA’ Y ‘MOTIVO’ …...……..102 2. ACERCA DE LA SELECCIÓN DE TEMAS Y MOTIVOS PARA LA INVESTIGACIÓN …...……..110 CAPÍTULO I: TEMAS …...……..114 1. DESBARATANDO LA FICCIÓN DEL TIEMPO El espacio y el tiempo (115); El tiempo colectivo (116); El concepto del tiempo (119); La tríada temporal (120); Fuera del tiempo (123); La eternidad (125); Quien merece la eternidad (131); Jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan (136); Borges, Nabokov y las teorías del tiempo y espacio en ciencia y filosofía (138) …...……..114 2. LA REALIDAD Y SUS ALTERNATIVAS El concepto de realidad (161); Entre la ficción y la realidad (168); Los muchos mundos (169); Los dobles (174) …...……..161 3. EL TEMA DE LA MEMORIA …...……..180 4. EL TEMA DEL HEROÍSMO Valentía y los valientes en las obras de Borges y Nabokov (192); El deber de ser épicos (197); Perspectivas para presentar una pelea (199) …...……..188 CAPÍTULO II: MOTIVOS …...……..204 1. A TRAVÉS DEL ESPEJO Y LO QUE SE PUEDE ENCONTRAR ALLÍ El espejo como ‘prótesis’ (207); Espejos que ‘congelan’ la imagen (208); Espejos deformantes (212); Espejos que advierten del peligro (213); El espejo como “herramienta …...……..204 que genera la infinidad” (214); Espejos peligrosos (214); El espejo en función de frontera (215); Los dobles o los reflejos (216); El espejo como modelo estructural de la narrativa de Borges y Nabokov (218); El miedo de los espejos (219) 2. EL MOTIVO DEL LABERINTO …...……..221 3. LOS PERSONAJES EN BUSCA DE LA CLAVE El enigma del universo (229); El dibujo encriptado en la vida del hombre (233) …...……..229 4. DOS ADMIRADORES DE CAISSA El ajedrez en la obra de Borges y Nabokov (236) …...……..235 5. EL MOTIVO DE LA CEGUERA …...……..242 TEMAS Y MOTIVOS EN LA OBRA DE J. L. BORGES Y V. NABOKOV: CONCLUSIÓN …...……..253 CONCLUSIONES FINALES …...……..266 BIBLIOGRAFÍA …...……..272 1. FUENTES PRIMARIAS Jorge Luis Borges: textos propios y entrevistas (274); Vladimir Nabokov: textos propios y entrevistas (277) …...……..274 2. BIBLIOGRAFÍA SOBRE BORGES Y NABOKOV …...……..279 3. OTRAS REFERENCIAS …...……..296 ANEXO: TABLA CRONOLÓGICA …...……..304 INTRODUCCIÓN Introducción 8 1. TEMA Y OBJETIVOS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN Los contemporáneos estamos escribiendo todos el mismo libro. J. L. Borges. (cit. en: Vázquez 1980: 252) En 1930, respondiendo a la encuesta de la revista Chisla sobre Marcel Proust, Nabokov escribió: La influencia literaria es una cosa oscura y dudosa. Podemos imaginar a dos escritores, A y B, totalmente diferentes, pero que se hallan bajo cierta influencia, muy subjetiva, de Proust. Esa influencia pasa desapercibida para el lector C, puesto que cada uno de estos tres (A, B y C) percibió a Proust a su manera. A veces sucede que un escritor influye indirectamente, a través del otro, o se da el caso de una complicada mezcla de influencias, etc. Es imposible prever algo en esta dirección. (Nabokov 2000–01: 5, 688-689) Tres años más tarde, en la revista Litoral, Borges deliberaba sobre el deseo – no ajeno a él mismo- de ‘querer ser otro’: Ya he señalado que en el habituadísimo caso Quisiera ser Alvear, B no quiere ser N; quiere ser B + N o B multiplicado por N. En el de la espectadora de Joan, B quiere dejar de ser B y ser del todo N; pero esa previa obliteración o suicidio lo desaparece del modo que no queda nada de B y que su incorporación a N, o rápido consumo por N, es impracticable. Si en el decurso del minuto siguiente, yo me convierto en el antiguo barbero del hermano mayor del secretario confidencial de Al Capone, en el preciso instante en que ese problemático personaje ocupa mi lugar —el milagro es tan imperceptible como absoluto. Nada me impide suponer que esos secretos cambios están aconteciendo continuamente y que un modesto Dios se complace con esos pudorosos milagros. La desconcertante falta de asombro en el segundo preciso de la transformación es una prueba de la perfección del ajuste. Arribo a esta conclusión melancólica: B no puede llegar a ser N, porque si llega a serlo, no se darán cuenta ni N ni B. (Borges 1993) Curiosamente, estas dos citas condensan la esencia de nuestro estudio. Ambas reflejan la actitud de sus autores ante la vida y su manera de abordar los problemas fundamentales. Y además, prefiguran nuestra respuesta sobre el origen de las similitudes que unen las obras de Borges y Nabokov. Desde los años sesenta del siglo pasado hasta la actualidad, en numerosos trabajos de los filólogos y periodistas, aparecen juntos los nombres de Borges y Nabokov como símbolos de toda una época o un estilo literario. Sus obras son 9 BAJO EL SIGNO DE PROTEO declaradas de suma importancia para el desarrollo de la narrativa contemporánea. En múltiples artículos y monografías dedicados a la historia de la literatura estadounidense, hispanoamericana o rusa del siglo XX se resalta la cercanía de algunos argumentos, temas o principios poéticos empleados por ambos autores1. Estas observaciones parecen tener su origen en los Estados Unidos a finales de los cincuenta y principios de los sesenta del siglo pasado (a lo largo de está época tuvo lugar el ‘descubrimiento’ y la máxima difusión de las obras de Borges y Nabokov). A esta conclusión nos conduce la abundancia de referencias cruzadas sobre ambos autores: en entrevistas, ensayos dedicados a la narrativa contemporánea, o a la producción artística de estos escritores. Por ejemplo, en 1967, Alfred Appel dirige a su antiguo profesor de literaturas extranjeras esta pregunta: “Usted y Borges nacieron en 1899 (¡aunque también Hemingway!). Su Bend Sinister y el cuento de Borges Las ruinas circulares son conceptualmente semejantes, pero Vd. no sabe español y este cuento se tradujo al inglés en 1949, dos años después del nacimiento de Bend Sinister” (OC, 75; también v.: 92, 159). El mismo año, John Barth publica su famoso ensayo titulado Literatura del agotamiento en el que nombra a Borges, Beckett y Nabokov como representantes de una nueva literatura; y la filóloga norteamericana Patricia Merivale escribe su artículo The flaunting of artífice in Vladimir Nabokov and Jorge Luis Borges (1967). Siete años más tarde aparece la monografía del filólogo norteamericano J. O. Stark, The Literature of Exhaustion: Borges, Nabokov, and Barth (1974). Prosa y poesía, bilingüismo inglés, adoración de Shakespeare, pasión por la literatura británica, opiniones muy contundentes, sueños que suprimen la realidad, caos que se disfraza de orden, abolición del tiempo confundido con el espacio, vida como una partida de ajedrez, exitosas mixtificaciones: todo esto lo encontramos en el currículo de ambos escritores. 1 “Nabokov, al igual que Beckett y Borges, nació en el mundo del modernismo y su escepticismo anti- realista, e iba a traducir esto, como los otros dos escritores, en la ficción americana de los 60, que reafirma y al mismo tiempo disputa muchos de los supuestos del modernismo anterior. De hecho, el postmodernismo que se identifica con frecuencia como típicamente americano le debe mucho a la influencia fundadora de estos tres escritores nacidos fuera de él; pero ejercieron un impacto peculiar y distintivo allí, introduciendo en su siempre disputada tradición de la novela ese sentido de escepticismo omnipresente, de absurdo exagerado y conciencia narcisista que nos lleva a ver la novela como el campo de pruebas del poder de nominación del lenguaje” (Elliott 1991: 1020). Introducción 10 Creemos que el estudio comparativo de la obra de Borges y Nabokov aporta interesantes observaciones a nuestro conocimiento sobre la personalidad, la producción literaria y el pensamiento de dichos autores. Este trabajo doctoral pretende describir las afinidades existentes entre sus narrativas, sobre todo a nivel conceptual, y definir el origen de las mismas. La originalidad del presente estudio radica en la amplitud del material manipulado, asimismo en la profundidad de su tratamiento, realizado con la ayuda de un método exhaustivo del análisis informático. Según nuestra hipótesis inicial, el origen de las similitudes existentes entre los escritos de Borges y Nabokov reside en la afinidad de su pensamiento, en su forma de mirar y percibir el mundo. En primer lugar, dicha afinidad halla su reflejo en los temas y motivos que los autores escogen para sus creaciones. Son expresiones directas de sus principales preocupaciones de toda índole, y ofrecen la posibilidad de un amplio y profundo estudio comparado entre sus obras.
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