"It's a pity one can't imagine what one can't compare to anything. Genius is an African who dreams up snow"

Vladimir Nabokov's quote, "It's a pity one can't imagine what one can't compare to anything. Genius is an African who thinks up snow", is an intriguing expedition of imagination and the limits of imagination. At the heart of this declaration is the idea that human imagination is typically bounded by what we have actually experienced or can analogize. When Nabokov states, "It's a pity one can't picture what one can't compare to anything", he is highlighting the fundamental limitations of human imagination, recommending that our capability to conceive of originalities or possibilities is normally constrained by our existing understanding and experiences.

The 2nd part of the quote, "Genius is an African who thinks up snow", serves to juxtapose 2 seemingly incompatible principles: an African, who probably resides in a region where snow is not a typical experience, and the imagery of snow, which is both foreign and abstract to their experience. This metaphor highlights the idea that real genius depends on the capability to go beyond these limitations; it is the capacity to visualize something totally unique and unrooted in one's own reality.

Nabokov's option to utilize an African dreaming of snow could likewise be viewed as a commentary on the cross-cultural barriers in understanding and sharing experiences. It talks to the amazing obstacle of envisioning beyond one's cultural and ecological confines, indicating the profound creative acts that need one to see beyond the visible, tangible world known to them.

In summary, Nabokov's quote recommends that genius involves an unusual ability to conceive the impossible, to imagine the inconceivable. It is an acknowledgment of both the constraints of human creativity when tethered to reality and the remarkable nature of the mind capable of breaking those bounds. It speaks with the transformative power of imagination that allows mankind to innovate and imagine worlds beyond our own.