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

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stylistic and thematic elements of Sebastian's novels,
the closest structural parallels existing between
The Real Life and The Prismatic Bezel, and the closest
approximation of content between The Real Life and
The Doubtful Asphodel. The conclusion suggests itself
that there is no such writer as V and that the author
of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is Sebastian him-
self. Some other clues suggest the same thing: the fact,
for example, that Mr Goodman is not aware that Sebastian
has a half-brother; the "v" in "Sevastian" in Dr Starov's
telegram; the fact that the narrator consistently
talks of "my father" and never once of "our father"
when talking about his own and Sebastian's childhood.
One should add as the most striking and the plainest
hint in this connection the moment when V looks at
a portrait of Sebastian:
These
...
eyes and the face itself are
painted in such a manner as to convey
the impression that they are mirrored
Narcissus-like in clear water - with a
very slight ripple on the hollow cheek,
owing to the presence of a water-spider
which has just stopped and is floating
backward. A withered leaf has settled
on the reflected brow, which is creased
as that of a man peering intently...
The general background is a mysterio. us
blueness with a delicate trellis of
twigs in one corner. Thus Sebastian
peers into a pool at himself (111-112).
The impression the reader is left with is not so much
one of V studying a portrait of Sebastian, but of
Sebastian looking at a reflected image of- himself.
From the beginning, it now appears, until the end,
when they are actually seen to merge, V and Sebastian
are not separate persons but are, in fact, one. Se-
bastian has written The Real Life of Sebastian Knight