''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses

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gathered from various sources, and at the same time
it tells us the story of how this information was
come by. It contains bits of another biographical
work about Sebastian and criticizes this work. It
contains expositions of Sebastian's own novels and
evaluates them. Careful reading reveals that each
of Sebastian's novels has something in common with
the book about him, and that his Doubtful Asphodel
in particular mirrors, and is mirrored in, The Real
Life of Sebastian Knight. It reveals furthermore
that Sebastian's views and techniques correspond
closely with those of Nabokov himself. One could
compare the novel with that children's toy: a set
of little boxes of ever diminishing size that fit
into each other. And one should add that some of
the walls of these boxes are transparent, so that
all the boxes are visible at once, and that, furthermore,
some of the walls act as mirrors to each
other. To all this is added the confusion concerning
identities. Are there really two persons, V and
Sebastian, V writing about his half-brother? Or is
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight another of
Sebastian's own novels and V one of his fictitious
characters?
l°
Is the whole Sebastian's own autobiography?
Nabokov complains that "reviewers scurrying in
search of more or less celebrated names for the pur-
pose of passionate comparison" have "hurled" at him,
among many others, "even Sebastian Knight. "11 This
is not quite so absurd as he seems to imply, for, as