Speak, Memory--Chapter 3

"Everything is as it should be, nothing will ever change, nobody will ever die." --Vladimir Nabokov, page 77

Nabokov uses this sentence to conclude Chapter 3, a lot of recollections of various family members. His family was amazing! This sentence comes at the end of a story about his Uncle Ruka, who made Nabokov his heir when he was a boy. The memory of his uncle looking at a children's book and rediscovering it taints his own rediscovery of the book. That one little family artifact took him back to a memory, and it's like he's back in the room with Uncle Ruka, when he was still alive and well. It just goes to show how powerful the objects of our lives are to us; it made me think of the chapters in our other books that talk about re-exploring the places of our childhoods as research. Revisiting a place or thing can bring back so much that's just hidden inside your brain, waiting to be triggered. This sentence also just makes me think of why I like to write down true stories; maybe that will make those moments immortal.