Leona Toker | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (original) (raw)
Papers by Leona Toker
Studies in 20th & 21st century literature, Jun 1, 1988
Nabokov's short stories are polished self-contained works of art. However, like his novels and po... more Nabokov's short stories are polished self-contained works of art. However, like his novels and poems, they can be profitably read in the light of their place in his general canon. This place is determined by the time when each story was written and by the way in which other works enrich and elucidate the significance of its images. The short fiction of Nabokov's Berlin period has been regarded largely as akin to studies that a painter makes in preparation for a big picture. In some cases, however, the stories seem to serve as safety valves for the urgent material that had to be kept out of the novels in order not to interfere with their design. A case in point is the 1935 story "Torpid Smoke," written at the juncture of Invitation to a Beheading and The Gift. The plight of the protagonist of "Torpid Smoke" is a hybrid of the tendencies manifest in Cincinnatus of Invitation and Fyodor Godunov Cherdyntsev of The Gift: however, unlike Fyodor, this young poet gets no encouragement in his wish to devote himself to literature; unlike Cincinnatus, he cannot reject his environment with a clear conscience. His father, the major obstacle to his literary pursuits, is essentially decent, well-meaning, and pathetically human-a far cry from the obnoxious "parodies" that surround Cincinnatus. The young poet is trapped between the exquisite happiness that accompanies poetic experience and the price that he cannot achieve artistic self-isolation. In a sense, the story dramatizes the conflict between morality and "aesthetic bliss." The imagery of the story ostensibly serves to increase the density of a plausible setting. Actually, the imagery is also functional; it forms a network of parallels and nuances that point both to the genuineness of the young man's talent and to the possible reason for the "puerile" quality of his "perishable" production, viz., to the presences of unprocessed issues whose pressure prevents him from successfully capturing his poetic experience in the flesh of language. The necessity of facing poignant complexities is a thematic undercurrent of the story. The story itself, moreover, seems to be Nabokov's way of confronting an issue of crucial relevance to Invitation and The Gift, viz., the morality of daily choices when the demands of personal relationships drain creative energies, yet cannot be rejected as cavalierly as in Invitation to a Beheading. In the design of The Gift there was no place for this theme; therefore Nabokov placed it in ' 'Torpid Smoke," his safety valve. He was then free to show the balance between communication and isolation maintained by the protagonist of The Gift.
Modern Language Review, Jul 1, 1991
South Atlantic Review, Nov 1, 1993
The importance of the ethics of form in literature has only recently gained broad recognition and... more The importance of the ethics of form in literature has only recently gained broad recognition and has thus far been explored mainly from the position of moral philosophy and critical theory. Leona Toker develops a narratological approach to the subject, based on studying “reticence” in works of fiction. Reticence consists in narrative techniques through which writers create information gaps that build interest, enhance tension, and control the reader’s comprehension of theme, character, and event. Using novels by Fielding, Austen, Dickens, Conrad, Forster, and Faulkner, Toker demonstrates how the withholding of information affects readers’ attitudes, stimulates their reassessment, and leads to a self-critical reorientation—and how such manipulation of attention has specific ethical and aesthetic significance. Drawing on descriptive poetics, reader-response criticism, and information theory, Toker marks the parallel situations of the characters in the fiction she analyzes and of the readers who encounter it, and presents a novel approach to the issue of first and repeated readings. The inquiry into the twofold role of the reader opens the discussion of narrative techniques to ethical issues. Through her analysis of silences in representative works Toker makes a meaningful contribution to modern narrative study and offers new insights into a number of familiar novels. This well informed, sensitive, and judicious study will appeal to scholars interested in narrative theory and ethical criticism and to students of Faulkner and of the classical English novel. Leona Toker is professor of English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_british_isles/1057/thumbnail.jp
Slavic and East European Journal, 1990
a fe llowship that allowed me to broaden my critical perspective. A number of people have read ch... more a fe llowship that allowed me to broaden my critical perspective. A number of people have read chapters of the manuscript, and I thank them for their suggestions and constructive criticism. In partic ular, I thank Mrs. Vera Nabokov (for comments on the essay that eventually became Chapter 2),
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Glory : "Good Example of How Metaphysics Can Fool Yo u" comme ceux qui partent en voyage pour voi... more Glory : "Good Example of How Metaphysics Can Fool Yo u" comme ceux qui partent en voyage pour voir de leurs yeux une cite desiree et s'imaginent qu'on peut gouter dans une realite le charme du songe. Marcel Proust, Du cote de chez Swann 'See, e.g., the hostile and troubled review of
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
II "Reader! Bruder!": Broodings on the Rhetoric of Lolita What a strange couple to go on their ra... more II "Reader! Bruder!": Broodings on the Rhetoric of Lolita What a strange couple to go on their rambles together! Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Little Annie's Ramble" ' Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Harmondsworth, 1982), p. us.
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
And there is also an art of throwing a wet blanket upon sympathy at the very moment it might aris... more And there is also an art of throwing a wet blanket upon sympathy at the very moment it might arise, the result being that the situation, though a serious one, is not taken seriously. Henri Bergson, "Laughter" 'C£ Moynahan, Vladimir Nab okov, pp. 25-26.
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Canadian-American Slavic studies =, 1985
Poetics Today, 1997
Toward a Poetics of Documentary Prose- from the Perspective of Gulag Testimonies ... sandr Solzhe... more Toward a Poetics of Documentary Prose- from the Perspective of Gulag Testimonies ... sandr Solzhenitsyn, has come to be called the "Gulag."' He wrote several ...
Neophilologus, Jan 8, 2022
In the 1920s, during his émigré life in interbellum Berlin, Vladimir Nabokov wrote a number of Ch... more In the 1920s, during his émigré life in interbellum Berlin, Vladimir Nabokov wrote a number of Christmas stories. These stories—“Christmas,” “The Christmas Story,” and “A Reunion”—were all composed and published at Christmastime and set on the eve of Russian Christmas (first week of January). While involving the traditional motifs of the Christmas-story genre, such as the combination of joy and sorrow as well as the motifs of epiphany, gift, care, and forgiveness, these narratives expand the scope of the genre to represent not communal religious values but a private ethical stance. The purity of commitments emerges as a criterion for successful inner life. The gifts are usually the gifts of the memory, cherished in “Christmas” and “A Reunion,” and forfeited in “The Christmas Story,” as well as in a counter-story, “A Matter of Chance,” which was also written at Christmas time but set August and published with half a year’s delay.
Studies in 20th & 21st century literature, Jun 1, 1988
Nabokov's short stories are polished self-contained works of art. However, like his novels and po... more Nabokov's short stories are polished self-contained works of art. However, like his novels and poems, they can be profitably read in the light of their place in his general canon. This place is determined by the time when each story was written and by the way in which other works enrich and elucidate the significance of its images. The short fiction of Nabokov's Berlin period has been regarded largely as akin to studies that a painter makes in preparation for a big picture. In some cases, however, the stories seem to serve as safety valves for the urgent material that had to be kept out of the novels in order not to interfere with their design. A case in point is the 1935 story "Torpid Smoke," written at the juncture of Invitation to a Beheading and The Gift. The plight of the protagonist of "Torpid Smoke" is a hybrid of the tendencies manifest in Cincinnatus of Invitation and Fyodor Godunov Cherdyntsev of The Gift: however, unlike Fyodor, this young poet gets no encouragement in his wish to devote himself to literature; unlike Cincinnatus, he cannot reject his environment with a clear conscience. His father, the major obstacle to his literary pursuits, is essentially decent, well-meaning, and pathetically human-a far cry from the obnoxious "parodies" that surround Cincinnatus. The young poet is trapped between the exquisite happiness that accompanies poetic experience and the price that he cannot achieve artistic self-isolation. In a sense, the story dramatizes the conflict between morality and "aesthetic bliss." The imagery of the story ostensibly serves to increase the density of a plausible setting. Actually, the imagery is also functional; it forms a network of parallels and nuances that point both to the genuineness of the young man's talent and to the possible reason for the "puerile" quality of his "perishable" production, viz., to the presences of unprocessed issues whose pressure prevents him from successfully capturing his poetic experience in the flesh of language. The necessity of facing poignant complexities is a thematic undercurrent of the story. The story itself, moreover, seems to be Nabokov's way of confronting an issue of crucial relevance to Invitation and The Gift, viz., the morality of daily choices when the demands of personal relationships drain creative energies, yet cannot be rejected as cavalierly as in Invitation to a Beheading. In the design of The Gift there was no place for this theme; therefore Nabokov placed it in ' 'Torpid Smoke," his safety valve. He was then free to show the balance between communication and isolation maintained by the protagonist of The Gift.
Modern Language Review, Jul 1, 1991
South Atlantic Review, Nov 1, 1993
The importance of the ethics of form in literature has only recently gained broad recognition and... more The importance of the ethics of form in literature has only recently gained broad recognition and has thus far been explored mainly from the position of moral philosophy and critical theory. Leona Toker develops a narratological approach to the subject, based on studying “reticence” in works of fiction. Reticence consists in narrative techniques through which writers create information gaps that build interest, enhance tension, and control the reader’s comprehension of theme, character, and event. Using novels by Fielding, Austen, Dickens, Conrad, Forster, and Faulkner, Toker demonstrates how the withholding of information affects readers’ attitudes, stimulates their reassessment, and leads to a self-critical reorientation—and how such manipulation of attention has specific ethical and aesthetic significance. Drawing on descriptive poetics, reader-response criticism, and information theory, Toker marks the parallel situations of the characters in the fiction she analyzes and of the readers who encounter it, and presents a novel approach to the issue of first and repeated readings. The inquiry into the twofold role of the reader opens the discussion of narrative techniques to ethical issues. Through her analysis of silences in representative works Toker makes a meaningful contribution to modern narrative study and offers new insights into a number of familiar novels. This well informed, sensitive, and judicious study will appeal to scholars interested in narrative theory and ethical criticism and to students of Faulkner and of the classical English novel. Leona Toker is professor of English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_british_isles/1057/thumbnail.jp
Slavic and East European Journal, 1990
a fe llowship that allowed me to broaden my critical perspective. A number of people have read ch... more a fe llowship that allowed me to broaden my critical perspective. A number of people have read chapters of the manuscript, and I thank them for their suggestions and constructive criticism. In partic ular, I thank Mrs. Vera Nabokov (for comments on the essay that eventually became Chapter 2),
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Glory : "Good Example of How Metaphysics Can Fool Yo u" comme ceux qui partent en voyage pour voi... more Glory : "Good Example of How Metaphysics Can Fool Yo u" comme ceux qui partent en voyage pour voir de leurs yeux une cite desiree et s'imaginent qu'on peut gouter dans une realite le charme du songe. Marcel Proust, Du cote de chez Swann 'See, e.g., the hostile and troubled review of
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
II "Reader! Bruder!": Broodings on the Rhetoric of Lolita What a strange couple to go on their ra... more II "Reader! Bruder!": Broodings on the Rhetoric of Lolita What a strange couple to go on their rambles together! Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Little Annie's Ramble" ' Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Harmondsworth, 1982), p. us.
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
And there is also an art of throwing a wet blanket upon sympathy at the very moment it might aris... more And there is also an art of throwing a wet blanket upon sympathy at the very moment it might arise, the result being that the situation, though a serious one, is not taken seriously. Henri Bergson, "Laughter" 'C£ Moynahan, Vladimir Nab okov, pp. 25-26.
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Cornell University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017
Canadian-American Slavic studies =, 1985
Poetics Today, 1997
Toward a Poetics of Documentary Prose- from the Perspective of Gulag Testimonies ... sandr Solzhe... more Toward a Poetics of Documentary Prose- from the Perspective of Gulag Testimonies ... sandr Solzhenitsyn, has come to be called the "Gulag."' He wrote several ...
Neophilologus, Jan 8, 2022
In the 1920s, during his émigré life in interbellum Berlin, Vladimir Nabokov wrote a number of Ch... more In the 1920s, during his émigré life in interbellum Berlin, Vladimir Nabokov wrote a number of Christmas stories. These stories—“Christmas,” “The Christmas Story,” and “A Reunion”—were all composed and published at Christmastime and set on the eve of Russian Christmas (first week of January). While involving the traditional motifs of the Christmas-story genre, such as the combination of joy and sorrow as well as the motifs of epiphany, gift, care, and forgiveness, these narratives expand the scope of the genre to represent not communal religious values but a private ethical stance. The purity of commitments emerges as a criterion for successful inner life. The gifts are usually the gifts of the memory, cherished in “Christmas” and “A Reunion,” and forfeited in “The Christmas Story,” as well as in a counter-story, “A Matter of Chance,” which was also written at Christmas time but set August and published with half a year’s delay.