Mirrors – Nabokov

Quote from The Eye by Vladimir Nabokov, found on Richard Kadrey’s Damn Tumblr:

‘For I do not exist: there exist but the thousands of mirrors that reflect me. With every acquaintance I make, the population of phantoms resembling me increases. Somewhere they live, somewhere they multiply. I alone do not exist.’

Interesting to see this today after last night’s reading group meeting and talk of networks and mirrors. Also makes me think of quantum computing, the acquaintances collapsing into one that holds a perfect image of Nabokov behind their eyelids. Would be especially interesting if it turned out that Nabokov, indeed, did not exist.

Ps. While looking for a photograph to accompany this post I fell in love with the series of Nabokov covers that John Gall designed for Vintage Books. I’ve collected them together in a Morgue File post, John Gall’s Nabokov covers but you should definitely have a look at Gall’s other work at John Gall Design.