I believe it was Margaret who mentioned Nabokov's correlation between letters and colors in class, but I just wanted to point out the specific passage (Chapter 2, page 34).
"I present a fine case of colored hearing. Perhaps "hearing" is not quite accurate, since the color sensation seems to be produced by the very act of my orally forming a given letter while I imagine its outline. The long a of the English alphabet has for me the tint of weathered wood, but a French a evokes polished ebony."
Nabokov then classifies certain letters into different categories of color. For instance, "In the green group, there are alder-leaf f, the unripe apple of p, and pistachio t. Dull green, combined somehow with violet, is the best I can do for w."
I find it highly entertaining that he imagines letters not only as different colors like green, blue, or purple, but "alder-leaf," "pistachio," and "violet." I also find it entertaining that he seems almost exasperated with the letter w and therefore, the color schemes in which he sees the letter is "the best [he] can do." If he sees letters in different colors then I wonder how he views words, sentences, and entire passages? Either as a resplendent rainbow or a horrible mess, I would think!
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I believe that words and sentences on and on would provide more of a medley of colors rather than a mess. In symphonies there are many parts that stand alone as melodies or harmonies and together make music. The only way that a combination of letters or words would make a mess would be if there were no structure or fluidity as there are in every sentence.
Visual music: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Visual mess: Jnxtci rl os gmr kwq hv bfr tyzlporm.
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