"Signs and Symbols" is a short story by Vladimir Nabokov, written in English and first published, May 15, 1948 in The New Yorker and then in Nabokov's Dozen (1958: Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York).
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Nabokov objected strongly, supported by his friend Edmund Wilson, and the story was printed mostly as he wrote it.
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In it, a young boy named Rollo falls asleep and finds himself not in Wonderland, but in "Emblemland", a place described by Cupid as "the home of all Emblems.... Emblems are signs and symbols. I'm an Emblem, because I am the symbol of love; Uncle Sam is the symbol of the United States, and John Bull is the symbol of England, and the Owl is the symbol of wisdom...."
Isaiah concludes these prophecies concerning his children (Shear-Jashub (meaning 'a remnant returns', Isaiah 7.3), Immanuel (meaning 'God is with us'), and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (meaning 'quick to plunder, speedy to spoil') by saying, 'Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.' (Isaiah 8.18 NIV) Interestingly enough, the context continues into chapter 9 which also uses a birth of a child as its object.