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

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he himself seems puzzled. It has already been said
that he does not always feel sure of his identity.
Old Oksman's slip of the tongue, calling Vadim's Tamara.
"Mary", deepens in him the uncomfortable feeling and
"dread that I might be permanently impersonating somebody
living as a real being beyond the constellation
of my tears and asterisks - ...
" and "that was unen-
durable, that dared not happen! " (96-97).
Nor can he get rid of the feeling that his life has
a plot, which to control is somehow beyond him: This
begins actually with his meeting his first wife:
I met the first of my three or four
successive wives in somewhat odd circumstances,
the development of which
resembled a clumsy conspiracy, with
nonsensical details and a main plotter
who not only knew nothing of its real
object but insisted on making inept
moves that seemed to preclude the
slightest possibility of success. Yet
out of these very mistakes he unwittingly
wove a web, in which a set of reciprocal
blunders on-my part caused me to
get involved and fulfill the destiny
that was the real aim of the plot (3).
It is not surprising that he should never get alto-
gether rid of this feeling, for, this instance apart,
many episodes and incidents in his life have their
sources in Nabokov's novels; great parts of his life
are, in fact, a clever combination of bits from vari-
ous quite disparate plots. Persons from those plots
(of which he knows nothing) appear in his surroundings,
and vital events in his life echo what has happened
to other Nabokov characters. He has lunch at "the
Pitt" (3), which is where Sebastian Knight also goes
for lunch; Sebastian is actually expected to come