Signs and Symbols
Encyclopedia
"Signs and Symbols" is a short story
by Vladimir Nabokov
, written in English and first published, May 15, 1948 in The New Yorker
and then in Nabokov's Dozen
(1958: Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York
).
In The New Yorker, the story was published under the title "Symbols and Signs", a decision by the editor Katharine White
. Nabokov returned the title to his original "Signs and Symbols" when republishing the story.
In the course of the story the reader learns many details of the couple's life: the unnamed couple is likely to be Jewish; had come from Russia; live probably in New York, depend financially upon the husband's brother, Isaac; had a German maid when they lived in exile in Germany; had an aunt, Rosa, who perished in the holocaust; and have a nephew who is a famous chess player. The elderly man feels that he is dying.
The son is unnamed, suicidal, and suffering from "referential mania", where "the patient imagines that everything happening around him is a veiled reference to his personality and existence". "Everything is a cipher and of everything he is the theme". Real people are excluded from this paranoia
, and the condition is worse the further he is away from familiar surroundings. The son's condition is based on a real condition—compare ideas of reference
.
, and the story was printed mostly as he wrote it.
However, the New Yorker version still contained three editorial changes that Nabokov eliminated in later publications. One was that the title was reversed as mentioned above. The second was that two paragraphs were joined into one. The third was that "beech plum" for a kind of jelly was changed to the correct "beach plum
". Alexander Drescher has argued that Nabokov intended the latter two points to be among the story's "signs and symbols". With his paragraphing, the story's three sections have 7, 4, and 19 paragraphs, indicating the year it takes place, 1947. (Drescher credits this connection to Anthony Stadlen.) In the New Yorker version, the last section had 18 paragraphs. To support his claim that the connection to 1947 is intentional, Drescher notes that in Nabokov's novel Pnin
(1957), Pnin complains that a librarian has changed volume 19 to volume 18 and gotten the wrong year in his request for a book from 1947, saying, "They can't read, these women! The year was plainly inscribed." Nabokov also initiates the story by suggesting it is Good Friday, which fell on April 4th in 1947, coincident with the Eve of the Passover. Regarding "beech", Drescher argues that it is the husband's misreading of the label, "an example of typographical free indirect discourse," and is one of the story's many references to the Holocaust, specifically the Buchenwald concentration camp. Buchenwald means beech
woods, and Pnin thinks of "Buchenwald" and "beechwood" (for cremation) together.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
, written in English and first published, May 15, 1948 in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and then in Nabokov's Dozen
Nabokov's Dozen
Nabokov's Dozen a collection of 13 short stories by Vladimir Nabokov previously published in American magazines. All were later reprinted within The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov....
(1958: Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York
Garden City, New York
Garden City is a village in the town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, and is located on Long Island, to the east of New York City, from mid-town Manhattan, and just south of the town of...
).
In The New Yorker, the story was published under the title "Symbols and Signs", a decision by the editor Katharine White
Katharine Sergeant Angell White
Katharine Sergeant Angell White was a writer and the fiction editor for The New Yorker magazine from 1925 to 1960...
. Nabokov returned the title to his original "Signs and Symbols" when republishing the story.
Plot summary
An elderly couple tries to visit their deranged son in a sanatorium on his birthday. They are informed that he attempted to take his life and they cannot see him now. After their return home, the husband announces his decision to take him out of the sanatorium. The story concludes with mysterious telephone calls. The first two apparently misdialed calls are from a girl asking for "Charlie"; the story ends when the phone rings for the third time.In the course of the story the reader learns many details of the couple's life: the unnamed couple is likely to be Jewish; had come from Russia; live probably in New York, depend financially upon the husband's brother, Isaac; had a German maid when they lived in exile in Germany; had an aunt, Rosa, who perished in the holocaust; and have a nephew who is a famous chess player. The elderly man feels that he is dying.
The son is unnamed, suicidal, and suffering from "referential mania", where "the patient imagines that everything happening around him is a veiled reference to his personality and existence". "Everything is a cipher and of everything he is the theme". Real people are excluded from this paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
, and the condition is worse the further he is away from familiar surroundings. The son's condition is based on a real condition—compare ideas of reference
Ideas of reference
Ideas of reference and delusions of reference involve people having a belief or perception that irrelevant, unrelated or innocuous phenomena in the world refer to them directly or have special personal significance: 'the notion that everything one perceives in the world relates to one's own...
.
Textual changes
The New Yorker wanted to make many changes. Nabokov objected strongly, supported by his friend Edmund WilsonEdmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
, and the story was printed mostly as he wrote it.
However, the New Yorker version still contained three editorial changes that Nabokov eliminated in later publications. One was that the title was reversed as mentioned above. The second was that two paragraphs were joined into one. The third was that "beech plum" for a kind of jelly was changed to the correct "beach plum
Beach plum
Prunus maritima is a species of plum native to the Atlantic coast of North America, from Maine south to Maryland. Although sometimes listed as extending to New Brunswick, the species is not known from collections there, and does not appear in the most authoritative works on the flora of that...
". Alexander Drescher has argued that Nabokov intended the latter two points to be among the story's "signs and symbols". With his paragraphing, the story's three sections have 7, 4, and 19 paragraphs, indicating the year it takes place, 1947. (Drescher credits this connection to Anthony Stadlen.) In the New Yorker version, the last section had 18 paragraphs. To support his claim that the connection to 1947 is intentional, Drescher notes that in Nabokov's novel Pnin
Pnin
Pnin is Vladimir Nabokov's 13th novel and his fourth written in English; it was published in 1957.-Plot summary:The book's eponymous protagonist, Timofey Pavlovich Pnin, is a Russian-born professor living in the United States...
(1957), Pnin complains that a librarian has changed volume 19 to volume 18 and gotten the wrong year in his request for a book from 1947, saying, "They can't read, these women! The year was plainly inscribed." Nabokov also initiates the story by suggesting it is Good Friday, which fell on April 4th in 1947, coincident with the Eve of the Passover. Regarding "beech", Drescher argues that it is the husband's misreading of the label, "an example of typographical free indirect discourse," and is one of the story's many references to the Holocaust, specifically the Buchenwald concentration camp. Buchenwald means beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
woods, and Pnin thinks of "Buchenwald" and "beechwood" (for cremation) together.