Analysis Of Vladimir Nabokov's 'Perfect Past'

Virtually no one likes to think of their cradle, their safe haven, to be rocking above an abyss. That's where the monsters are, ready to snatch you up and swallow you into eternal darkness. That darkness, however, is the difference between living and not living, and the cradle, as Vladimir Nabokov depicts it, "is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness" (303). In his essay "Perfect Past", Nabokov crafts a beautifully poetic account of what it means to exist as a human in our most transitory state: life, which is positioned between the boundless periods of pre-birth and post-death. With an artfully clear use of language, anecdotes, and symbolism, Nabokov asserts that existence in its purest essence is a shared and somewhat …show more content…
In providing the readers with a recognizable state of being, Nabokov states, "[Childhood] sounds mysterious and new, and becomes stranger and stranger as it gets mixed up in my small, overstocked, hectic mind, with Robin Hood and Little Red Riding Hood, and the brown hoods of old hunchback fairies" (308). This portrayal of childhood immediately resonates with anyone who still clings to the innocence of years long gone and further alludes to his earlier argument that imagination can fatally obfuscate the true meaning of life. In speaking of imagination, Nabokov claims that one should not enjoy life too much, alluding to the enjoyment many seek in imagined states of being. This hesitation to engage in imagination can be attributed to the fear of the disillusionment that so often results in states of depression. Therefore, Nabokov subtly persuades the audience not to seek refuge in immature habits of the mind and instead confront the visceral realities of consciousness. Making such a poke at the childish inclinations further substantiates Nabokov's appeal to logos via the logically derived notion that if imaginations are not real and life is about what is (Nabokov was likely an epistemological empiricist who relied on evidence based in reality), then one should not …show more content…
Here the audience finds deeply intricate symbolism in the games Nabokov engaged in as a young boy. He writes of the games he would play as a young child that resembled a "primordial cave" (306). Nabokov continues to explain the experience of crawling between a wall and a divan and witnessing the bright light at the end of the tunnel. This game is somewhat reminiscent of the process of being birthed into a world that is so often represented by Nabokov as the starkness of white against an eternal black background. Everyone enters the universe the same way and will exist, if for but a mere moment, in the light of life and consciousness. Nabokov is therefore deeply intuitive and cognizant of the ways in which reality can weave itself into the developing minds of sentient