Transparency:

Out of all the Nabokov we have read, I have taken a strong liking to Transparent Things. I think that there are so many things that can be overlooked while reading, or discovered only after your second attempt through. I just really like how Nabokov has depicted transparency, and instead of just looking at something, one must look harder to see through it, and see into its past. I believe Hugh's name has much significance in this book too. Hugh Persons. Nobody special. No Special talents. Just a person. Just looking at Hugh, one may only think, hes an ordinary person. However, that is just by looking at him without "sinking into the very history" of him.

"When we concentrate on a material object, whatever its situation, the very act of attention may lead to our involuntarily sinking into the history of that object. Novices must learn to skim over matter if they want matter to stay at the exact level of the moment. Transparent things, through which the past shines!" (Nabokov 489)

I have read over this quote so many times. At first, I thought Nabokov was saying not to think too hard about the object you are looking at... that's what novices do. Unless one wants to use a pen to write, and only write, they must not start thinking about how the pen came to be, because then the pens purpose is not to write, but to entertain ones mind. If the pen is for writing, one must only think that, so the pen stays at that level. I feel this is the same with Hugh. If everyone looks at Hugh as just a person, so he stays at the level of the moment, then people are not forced to sink into his history, and see the past that has shaped him into the person he has become.

Many things have this same quality in the story. For example, Hugh does not seem to be the happiest of people. So when he looks at objects, they begin to take on shapes of his emotion as well. "A dreadful building" and "the blank bluish wall gliding down". The dreadful building was just the appearance, and when he looks through it he begins to notice deeper aspects of the building. Like the blank bluish wall, maybe saying the wall brings no emotions because of its un-interesting blankness? Did he call the wall blank, because the wall's past is pretty uneventful, just a long corridor where people walk through to start or end their day? The pen got so much attention for it has a purpose. It can create thoughts and emotions, and while it has a history, one must not dwell on it for the pen must stay in the present so the hand may create the now.

I dont know. Its weird. Everytime I go through Transparent Things I begin thinking about different random thoughts, thoughts that I have a hard time getting out into words. Maybe im looking to far into it, but I dont think so.. Nabokov writes like he plays chess.. hard problems that one must solve.