The theory of synesthesia according to the Pythagorean tradition and Nabokov’s revisiting of Pythagorean synesthesia

In Ancient times, synesthesia was a form of perception sought after, as developed both by Pythagoras and by Aristotle. It was a degree of perception sought after for the perception of the divine. It was part of a definite aesthetics because art was supposed to permit access to synesthesia through very precise rules defined by Aristotle in his Rhetoric. Synesthesia was not an anomalous form of perception experienced by some writers only. It was supposed to be induced by certain masterpieces, thus connecting the reader’s experience of synesthesia with the writer’s. The hypothesis of the present paper is that Nabokov knew those theories and that his knowledge of Ancient sources was not limited to Plato whom he quotes repeatedly in his interviews, but also comprised Aristotle. Not only did Nabokov know about that theory, some interviews, and some of his novels reveal a game with those sources and a quest for the reader’s synesthesia. The present article focuses on the two first pages of The Gift as a skillful implementation of Aristotle’s theory on synesthesia.

The Genitive ὈΔΥΣΕΥΣ (OD. 24.398) and Homer's ‘Awkward’ Parentheses

Modern editions read Ὀδυσεῦς, a contracted genitive singular, at Od. 24.398: an anomalous form, which fuels the case for the inauthenticity of the end of the Odyssey. We should consider rather reinstating the reading of the ‘vulgate’, Ὀδυσεῦς (nominative). This yields a different syntax: a rapid double change of subject or, equivalently, a parenthesis interrupting the flow of the sentence. This possibility, raised and dismissed by Eustathius, goes unmentioned by modern scholars, who are often in general (unlike their second-century counterpart Nicanor) ill-disposed to Homeric parentheses. A survey of Homeric parentheses shows the phenomenon in general and the specific instance postulated at Od. 24.398 to be unobjectionable. The validity of the terms ‘parenthesis’ and ‘sentence’ for Homeric discourse is also defended.

Early Experience Determines How the Senses Will Interact

Multisensory integration refers to the process by which the brain synthesizes information from different senses to enhance sensitivity to external events. In the present experiments, animals were reared in an altered sensory environment in which visual and auditory stimuli were temporally coupled but originated from different locations. Neurons in the superior colliculus developed a seemingly anomalous form of multisensory integration in which spatially disparate visual-auditory stimuli were integrated in the same way that neurons in normally reared animals integrated visual-auditory stimuli from the same location. The data suggest that the principles governing multisensory integration are highly plastic and that there is no a priori spatial relationship between stimuli from different senses that is required for their integration. Rather, these principles appear to be established early in life based on the specific features of an animal's environment to best adapt it to deal with that environment later in life.

NONCANONICAL FEATURES IN AN ANOMALOUS GAUGE THEORY

We investigate the conventional (anomalous) form of the chiral Schwinger model via its gauge-symmetric formulation and point out some unusual (noncanonical) features of it. We clarify their origin and discuss the problem of fermion confinement in this model.