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

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- 215 - pattern of his future himself. He imagines he is a participant in the game of chess that is his life, and tries to trick his opponent: Already the day before he had thought of an interesting device, a device with which he could, perhaps, foil the designs of his mysterious opponent. The device consisted in voluntarily committing some absurd unexpected act that would be outside the systematic order of life, thus confronting the sequence of moves planned by his opponent. It was an experimental defence... (191). But whoever his opponent is will not be fdoled. From what happens it appears that Luzhin's move has been foreseen and taken into account. His defence proves to be erroneous and the development that he has feared is almost brought to its fatal conclusion. It becomes apparent that Luzhin is not so much a player at the board as a piece on the board, moved about at will and with a definite purpose by the mysterious powers playing the game. His art may, in fact, allow him an insight into the pattern and working of fate, the rules and moves being the same in both. But though he is free to move the pieces on the little board, he has no power to interfere in "the game of the gods" (32), in which he is himself no more than a tiny chessman and in which his fate is shaped. The feeling of absolute helplessness and despair that comes over him with the realization of allows of only one way of action, . this fact namely, "to drop out of the game" (198) in order to be saved. Ironically, the last thing he perceives when bathroom window into eternity, is underlying design does not differ he jumps from his that apparently its at all from what he
- 216 - has recognized as the basic pattern of life: ... the window reflections gathered together and leveled themselves out, the whole chasm was seen to divide into dark and pale squares, and... he saw exactly what kind of eternity was obligingly and inexorably spread out before him (20l). 4-
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''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest fo
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Abstract Nabokov once said that "re
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Introduction
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-2- granting that the Bolshevist an
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-4- consent, was motivated by the a
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-6- on the aspects of life that int
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-8- importance but its art, only it
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- 10 - of. the novels, consist in t
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- 12 - life with its hazards and in
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- 14 - lives of individual persons,
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- 16 - is convinced to really know
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- 18 - hopeless, but Nabokov does n
Page 25 and 26:
- 20 - for the artist, is expressed
Page 27 and 28:
- 22 - a new, wholly artistic reali
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- 24 - way, and this knowledge and
Page 31 and 32:
- 26 - internal evidence of Invitat
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- 28 - Admittedly not all of Naboko
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- 30 - "tr. ue reality" in that it
Page 37 and 38:
- 32 - the manner in which the subj
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- 34 - The case is quite similar in
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- 36 - lines of play 11120 will in
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- 38 - him knowledge surpassing tha
Page 45 and 46:
- 40 - the present. This act of rec
Page 47 and 48:
- 42 - design in the life of Martin
Page 49 and 50:
- 44 - Martin's mother of her son's
Page 51 and 52:
- 46 - is blind where his wife and
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- 48 - serious and profound experie
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I. The Eye Pnin Lolita; Laughter*in
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- 51 - novel. They illustrate how p
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- 53 - tearing the banknote into li
Page 61 and 62:
- 55 - have before: after the suici
Page 63 and 64:
- 57 - imagination of Gretchen best
Page 65 and 66:
- 59 - deed been through an experie
Page 67 and 68:
- 61 - there must be some "model" a
Page 69 and 70:
- 63 - P NI N In their appreciation
Page 71 and 72:
- 65 - For the sake of convenience
Page 73 and 74:
- 67 - Pnin's appearance is comic,
Page 75 and 76:
- 69 - all-the time. He suffers an
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- 71 - existence" (13). In his pres
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- 73 - is going to give, on his per
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- 75 - exist in such big sea" (60).
Page 83 and 84:
- 77 - directly from Pnin's peculia
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- 79 - them at least 10ok like his
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- 81 - indeed only the very thinnes
Page 89 and 90:
- 83 - but the group of academics w
Page 91 and 92:
- 85 - "schools and trends", and is
Page 93 and 94:
- 87 - which induces the reader to
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- 89 - and-smiles at, there emerges
Page 97 and 98:
- 91 - More depth and reality are a
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- 93 - cp. 180). The narrator also
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95 - being accurate in every point,
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- 97 - standing of a "truly human b
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- 99 - eternal beauty, and his conv
Page 107 and 108:
- 101 - One luckless early critic w
Page 109 and 110:
- 103 - says "well-read" Humbert Hu
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- 105 - surface, into the initial m
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- 107 - age. She was the "initial g
Page 115 and 116:
- 109 - and implies in the parody t
Page 117 and 118:
- 111 - He is equally inaccurate in
Page 119 and 120:
- 113 - with Quilty; and, of course
Page 121 and 122:
- 115 - or to hold her on his knee
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- 117 - ations ) (98). And he descr
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- 119 - a strident, harsh high voic
Page 127 and 128:
- 121 - When Humbert talks of his d
Page 129 and 130:
- 123 -- could victimize her poor d
Page 131 and 132:
- 125 - this twelve-year-old girl s
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- 127 - done her morning duty" (161
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- 129 - experience, up to a certain
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- 131 - her: "... -a life full of t
Page 139 and 140:
- 133 - Looking at it for a moment
Page 141 and 142:
- 135 - and Axel Rex delightful. Bu
Page 143 and 144:
- 137 - critics have made her, and
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- 139 - not record images of the sy
Page 147 and 148:
- 141 - ous hallucination" (287). 6
Page 149 and 150:
- 143 - No hereafter is acceptable
Page 151 and 152:
- 145 - be possible for him to be t
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- 147 - and it is also appropriate
Page 155 and 156:
- 149 - But Humbert's view of Lolit
Page 157 and 158:
- 151 - the truth of the theory dev
Page 159 and 160:
- 153 - part of it. Even with the i
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- 155 - THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN
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- 157. - consistent set of characte
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- 159 - gathered from various sourc
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- 161 - a very close one, and it se
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- 163 - tiously follows all the mov
Page 171 and 172: - 165 - go about it), behaving as i
Page 173 and 174: - 167 - infinite trouble what he co
Page 175 and 176: - 169 - What were the things that r
Page 177 and 178: - 171 share", as a good biographer
Page 179 and 180: - 173 - seems to him too colourless
Page 181 and 182: 175 - parody of what Stegner calls
Page 183 and 184: - 177 - that lead to it, he is sing
Page 185 and 186: - 179 - the time during which he li
Page 187 and 188: - 181 - France. He is tormented by
Page 189 and 190: - 183 - on the last page of the nov
Page 191 and 192: - 185 - what he wants to find, that
Page 193 and 194: - 187 - would not see him. Somewhat
Page 195 and 196: - 189 - he falls back on passages f
Page 197 and 198: - 191 - ticism as one possible way
Page 199 and 200: - 193 - The passages betray not onl
Page 201 and 202: - 195 - This "mental jerk" grants k
Page 203 and 204: - 197 - clear, and the harmony and
Page 205 and 206: - 199 - initiated the insight. In l
Page 207 and 208: - 201 - himself, and in it V appear
Page 209 and 210: - 203 - novels of Sebastian Knight,
Page 211 and 212: - 205 - All those that knew Sebasti
Page 213 and 214: - 207 - in his opinion not have for
Page 215 and 216: - 209 - others as his remoteness an
Page 217 and 218: - 210 - THEDEFENCE R. H. W. Dillard
Page 219 and 220: - 212 - his own future, and it beco
Page 221: - 214 - Unlike Shade, however, Luzh
Page 225 and 226: - 218 - The sensitive reader dislik
Page 227 and 228: - 220 - The individual parts have p
Page 229 and 230: - 222 - for the overall comic effec
Page 231 and 232: - 224 - Americans of today. "24 He
Page 233 and 234: - 226 - learn anything, to wrap it
Page 235 and 236: - 228 - exhausted. Kinbote uses it
Page 237 and 238: - 230 - (24-25). He talks about how
Page 239 and 240: - 232 - "Parents" (1,71), "my bedro
Page 241 and 242: - 234 - commentary, and they also o
Page 243 and 244: - 236 - forbidden knowledge of whic
Page 245 and 246: - 238 - than he thought it was46: B
Page 247 and 248: - 240 - following the road of its r
Page 249 and 250: - 242 - actually sees Kinbote, lose
Page 251 and 252: - 244 - emerges that the man whom h
Page 253 and 254: - 246 - sions, shows that even the
Page 255 and 256: - 248 - superficially is about. He
Page 257 and 258: - 250 - "really" Kinbote who has wr
Page 259 and 260: - 252 - standing' of the poem do no
Page 261 and 262: - 254 - Shade mentions a famous fil
Page 263 and 264: - 256 - is left-handed (180) and he
Page 265 and 266: - 258 - The sea's a thief, whose li
Page 267 and 268: - 260 - much a person even on the l
Page 269 and 270: - 262 - In the relationship between
Page 271 and 272: - 264 - even for his own death. It
Page 273 and 274:
- 266 - TRANSPARENT THINGS An old N
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- 268 - the name as if it were simp
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- 270- Armande that has brought him
Page 279 and 280:
- 272 - a conscious effort. Things
Page 281 and 282:
- 274 - intention either to convey
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- 276 - past with utmost precision
Page 285 and 286:
- 278 - Hugh Person ignores a vague
Page 287 and 288:
- 280 - the wall which in his wakin
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- 282 - thus opening the view into
Page 291 and 292:
- 284 - tain moments he positively
Page 293 and 294:
- 286 - We thought that he had in h
Page 295 and 296:
- 288 - The thought throws more lig
Page 297 and 298:
- 290 - That Nabokov does consider
Page 299 and 300:
- 292 - which strangely prefigures
Page 301 and 302:
- 294 - become no doubt a new bible
Page 303 and 304:
- 296 - It probably is Mr. R. 's ph
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- 298 - DESPAIR Despair1, though wr
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- 300 - rendering a certain sound t
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- 302 - I have grown much too used
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- 304 - dimensions of artistic crea
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- 306 - when he starts writing his
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- 308 - in its capability of photog
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- 310- next morning, none would bel
Page 319 and 320:
- 312 - To the end, then, he remain
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- 314 - tangible double of himself,
Page 323 and 324:
- 316 - this attack of his second s
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- 318 - ... the ruddy horror of my
Page 327 and 328:
- 320 - only a limited number of su
Page 329 and 330:
- 321 - BENDSINISTER INVITATIONTOAB
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- 323 - the Dark Comedies of the Tw
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- 325 - and that one has first to p
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- 327 - the absurd fate he himself
Page 337 and 338:
- 329 - perhaps in some archaic let
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- 331 - this fantasy with bits of L
Page 341 and 342:
- 333 - in the solution it offers.
Page 343 and 344:
- 335 - no more than the strange an
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- 337 - clown (IB, 104-105). And th
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- 339 - of the original still shine
Page 349 and 350:
- 341 - each of them. There is Mart
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- 343 - "cleared his throat and sof
Page 353 and 354:
- 345 - and then perhaps we shall s
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- 347 - our own world , and with it
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- 349 - the river we see him fishin
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- 351 - inspired by a picture on wh
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- 353 - do not conceal them must di
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- 355 - also the only one who can i
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- 357 - (IB, 26) and only his doubl
Page 367 and 368:
- 359 - Cincinnatus no longer what
Page 369 and 370:
- 361 - He speculates about time in
Page 371 and 372:
- 363 - ADA Ada1 has more than any
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- 365 - combine to form the surface
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- 367 - ... a string of stock scene
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- 369 - more confusing by the great
Page 379 and 380:
- 371 - of aspens; they embraced,..
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- 373 - aux caprices de son age. «
Page 383 and 384:
- 375 - pipes into "borborygmic con
Page 385 and 386:
- 377 - Swann et la Lesbie de Catul
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- 379 - in quite a new light and de
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- 381 - of a comic strip cartoon [1
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- 383 - and van's divans and cushio
Page 393 and 394:
- 385 - ernized barracks for misfit
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- 387 - (385). Van himself is calle
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- 38-9 - "Don't forget normal adult
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- 391 - Ada have an equally profoun
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- 393 - her, and telling himself "t
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- 395 - agents from an alien countr
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- 397 -. - cribed by Aristophanes i
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- 399 - stored in their minds, of a
Page 409 and 410:
- 401 - Since nature was traditiona
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- 403 and the Present. Like his cre
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- 405 - way one may wish and try to
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- 407 - liberated from "Numbers and
Page 417 and 418:
- 409 - his own memory of the Past,
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- 411 - only meet again after twelv
Page 421 and 422:
- 413 - and Present are blended by
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- 415 - of his publications as "buo
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- 417 - tion. Pain and physical dea
Page 427 and 428:
- 418 - LOOKATTHEHARLEQUINS! "Look
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- 420 - minor minds, and such vital
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- 422 - Ada also appear in it: some
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- 424 - he himself seems puzzled. I
Page 435 and 436:
- 426 - obvious anyway, is undersco
Page 437 and 438:
- 428 - intimately interwoven with
Page 439 and 440:
- 430 - ture of the author, one may
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- 432 - was) I have gained some exp
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Notes Bibliography
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- 435 - 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Page 447 and 448:
- 437 - 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76
Page 449 and 450:
- 439 - 111 112 113 114 115 116 Nor
Page 451 and 452:
- 441 - N0TES to THEEYE 1 Vladimir
Page 453 and 454:
- 443 - 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Page 455 and 456:
- 445 - N0TES to LOLITA and LAUGHTE
Page 457 and 458:
- 447 - 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Vladim
Page 459 and 460:
- 449 - 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
Page 461 and 462:
- 451 - 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Page 463 and 464:
- 453 - 60 61 62 63 Vladimir Naboko
Page 465 and 466:
-. 455 - N0TESt0PALEFIRE 1 2 3 4 5
Page 467 and 468:
- 457 - 27 Andrew Field, Nabokov, H
Page 469 and 470:
- 459 - 56 57 58 59 60 Ibid., p. 72
Page 471 and 472:
- 461 - NOTESTOTRANSPARENTTHINGS 1
Page 473 and 474:
- 463 - NOTES to DESPAIR 1 . Vladim
Page 475 and 476:
- 465 - N0TES to BEND SINISTER and
Page 477 and 478:
- 467 - 38 G. M. Hyde, Vladimir Nab
Page 479 and 480:
- 469 - 24 25 26 27 28 29 Vladimir
Page 481 and 482:
- 471 - 71 Op. cit., pp. 147-148. 7
Page 483 and 484:
BIBL10GRAPHY I. Primary Sources 1.
Page 485 and 486:
- 474 - Nabokov, Vladimir, Pale Fir
Page 487 and 488:
- 476 - "Vladimir Nabokov on His Li
Page 489 and 490:
-- 478 - II. Reference Bryer, Jacks
Page 491 and 492:
- 480 - Stuart, Dabney, Nabokov, Th
Page 493 and 494:
- 482 - Dembo, L. S., "Vladimir Nab
Page 495 and 496:
- 484 - Hyman, Stanley Edgar, "The
Page 497 and 498:
- 48ti-. - (Autumn, 1968), pp. 655-
Page 499 and 500:
- 488 - Arbor, 1974), pp. 70-83. Sk
Page 501 and 502:
- 490 - Heidsieck, Arnold, Das Grot
Page 503:
- 492 - Shelston, Alan, Biography,
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