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Thoughts on Nabokov's novel "The Eye." 

"Kashmarin had borne away yet another image of Smurov. Does it make any difference which? For I (Smurov) 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."  The "Eye" is a search for the “I,” a neti-neti ("I am not this, not this") search for Self, Nabokov style.

Pavel Somov, Ph.D.