| Revision as of 10:43, 11 February 2006 editJackofOz (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, New page reviewers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers208,236 edits wiki Nabokov← Previous edit | Revision as of 12:09, 11 February 2006 edit undoDpbsmith (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users30,940 edits Interesting recent example, but rewrite to stick to verifiable factsNext edit → | ||
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| "The ability to reach a rich vein of such material and to translate it effectively into philosophy, literature, music or scientific discovery is one of the hallmarks of what is commonly called genius." ---Carl Jung, ''Man and His Symbols.'' | "The ability to reach a rich vein of such material and to translate it effectively into philosophy, literature, music or scientific discovery is one of the hallmarks of what is commonly called genius." ---Carl Jung, ''Man and His Symbols.'' | ||
| Michael Marr's book ''The Two Lolitas'' (ISBN 1844670384) describes his discovery of a 1916 German literature|German short story also entitled "Lolita" about a middle-aged man traveling abroad who takes a room as a lodger and instantly becomes obsessed with the young pre-teen girl (also named Lolita) that lives in the home where he rents the room. One of the explanations suggested by Marr is that Nabokov may have had a cryptomnesic memory of the story while he was composing ''Lolita'' during the 1950s..<!--Probably not important to mention in THIS article is that the story says Marr is at pains to says he does not regard this as plagiarism, unconscious or otherwise. It quotes him as saying "Literature has always been a huge crucible in which familiar themes are continually recast.... Nothing of what we admire in Lolita is already to be found in the tale; the former is in no way deducible from the latter."---> | |||
| Recent scholarship has speculated that ] may have had cryptomnesia while he was composing his most famous novel, '']''. There is a ] ] also entitled "Lolita" about an older man obsessed with a young girl that was published in ]. Nabokov lived in the same section of ], ] as the author, ], and was most likely familiar with the author's work, which was widely available at that time in Germany. More information regarding this recent controversy can be found and . | |||
| "We can find clear proof of this fact in the history of science itself. For example, the French mathematician ] and the chemist ] owed important scientific discoveries (as they themselves admit) to sudden pictorial 'revelations' from the unconscious. The so-called 'mystical' experience of the French philosopher ] involved a similar sudden revelation in which he saw in a flash the 'order of all sciences.' The British author ] had spent years looking for a story that would fit his 'strong sense of man's double being,' when the plot of '']'' was suddenly revealed to him in a dream." ---] ''Man and His Symbols'' | "We can find clear proof of this fact in the history of science itself. For example, the French mathematician ] and the chemist ] owed important scientific discoveries (as they themselves admit) to sudden pictorial 'revelations' from the unconscious. The so-called 'mystical' experience of the French philosopher ] involved a similar sudden revelation in which he saw in a flash the 'order of all sciences.' The British author ] had spent years looking for a story that would fit his 'strong sense of man's double being,' when the plot of '']'' was suddenly revealed to him in a dream." ---] ''Man and His Symbols'' | ||
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Revision as of 12:09, 11 February 2006
Cryptomnesia, or "concealed recollection," is a very common phenomenon. It is often the means of recalling to mind certain experiences that one otherwise would not remember.
As explained expertly by Carl Jung, in Man and His Symbols, "An author may be writing steadily to a preconceived plan, working out an argument or developing the line of a story, when he suddenly runs off at a tangent. Perhaps a fresh idea has occurred to him, or a different image, or a whole new sub-plot. If you ask him what prompted the digression, he will not be able to tell you. He may not even have noticed the change, though he has now produced material that is entirely fresh and apparently unknown to him before. Yet it can sometimes be shown convincingly that what he has written bears a striking similarity to the work of another author--a work that he believes he has never seen."
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Jung goes on to list more specific examples. Nietzsche's book Thus Spoke Zarathustra includes an almost word for word account of an incident also included in a book published about 1835, half a century before Nietzsche wrote. This is neither considered to be purposeful plagiarism nor pure coincidence. Nietzsche's sister confirmed that he had indeed read the original account when he was 11 years old.
Not all examples were of the same nature. For example, cryptomnesia is likely the result of some memories becoming forcibly unconscious ones due to lack of room in the conscious. Therefore it does not always take the shape of plagiarism, as it would in writing, as well as musical compositions, and other art forms, but can also be the basis of philosophy.
"The ability to reach a rich vein of such material and to translate it effectively into philosophy, literature, music or scientific discovery is one of the hallmarks of what is commonly called genius." ---Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols.
Michael Marr's book The Two Lolitas (ISBN 1844670384) describes his discovery of a 1916 German literature|German short story also entitled "Lolita" about a middle-aged man traveling abroad who takes a room as a lodger and instantly becomes obsessed with the young pre-teen girl (also named Lolita) that lives in the home where he rents the room. One of the explanations suggested by Marr is that Nabokov may have had a cryptomnesic memory of the story while he was composing Lolita during the 1950s..
"We can find clear proof of this fact in the history of science itself. For example, the French mathematician Poincaré and the chemist Kekulé owed important scientific discoveries (as they themselves admit) to sudden pictorial 'revelations' from the unconscious. The so-called 'mystical' experience of the French philosopher Descartes involved a similar sudden revelation in which he saw in a flash the 'order of all sciences.' The British author Robert Louis Stevenson had spent years looking for a story that would fit his 'strong sense of man's double being,' when the plot of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was suddenly revealed to him in a dream." ---Carl Jung Man and His Symbols
The mention of Kekulé is most interesting. While researching benzene, the German chemist dreamed of a snake with its tail in its mouth. Kekulé interpreted the snake as a representation of the closed-carbon ring of benzene, but the symbol of the snake with its tail in its mouth is an ancient one known as the Ouroboros. It can be found in Greek manuscripts from as long ago as the third century B.C.. This snake can also symbolize reversible chemical reactions.
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