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

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has already been stated, Sebastian's art has indeed
a lot in common with that of his creator. One passage
in particular has often been quoted to illustrate
the affinities between their works, namely the pas-
sage in which V explains Sebastian's use of parody:
... at the very moment when the reader feels
quite safe in an. atmosphere of pleasurable
reality and the grace and glory of the
author's prose seems to indicate some lofty
and rich intention,... we are again wallowing
in a morass of parody (88).
He also explains Knight's intentions when using par-
ody. One is to expose and
[to hunt]
...
out the things which had once
been fresh and bright but which were now
worn to a thread, dead things among living
ones; dead things shamming life, painted
and repainted, continuing to be accepted
by lazy minds serenely unaware of the
fraud (85).
This (purely artistic) purpose is not his only one:
.. he used parody as a kind
ior
of springboard
leaping into the highest region of
serious emotion (85).
Parody is the comic form Nabokov uses most consist-
ently in The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. On the
one hand this adds to the bewilderment created by the
intricate structure, but on the other hand it also
helps to get nearer to an understanding of the novel.
An analysis of the passages where it is used and an
investigation of why it is used may lead a few steps
towards the solution of the "riddle" of The Real Life
of Sebastian Knight.
L
After the death of the writer Sebastian Knight
his half-brother sets out to write his biography.
Apparently the relationship between the two was not