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

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obvious anyway, is underscored by Vadim at one point
giving his address as "Dumbert Dumbert, Dumberton" -
"the dumbest address I could produce at the moment"
(143), and on another occasion making a slip he cannot
explain (of course! ). He calls Bel "Dolly", which sends
her into a rage: "What does he mean? Why does he call
me 'Dolly'? Who is she for God's sake? Why, why,....,
why did you say that? " (195). Dolly Borg, too, the
memory of whom may have caused the slip, has her pro-
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totype in Lolita (Dolly).
There is no need to stress that all of this has
of course nothing whatever to do with Nabokov. Giving
bits of his life and some of his thoughts to Vadim,
and then involving him in a number of fictional plots,
he creates perhaps a more hopeless tangle of reality
and fiction than ever before, and extends the parody
that started with the comical twisting of his novels
so that it now comprehends his own person and life.
It has been seen that Vadim is aware of the fact
that his life has a plot. This recalls the theme
which is central to The Defence, Pale Fire, Transparent
Things and Despair: there is some mysterious
power at work, weaving a "web of sense" and determining
events and incidents in a person's life. A
man may be aware of this as Luzhin and Shade, and
Vadim, too, and if he has an artistic mind, he will
be able to see through the pattern and understand
its underlying principle. What he cannot do is to
take an influence on its design and its completion.
Vadim has the feeling at one point that this is