Nabokov's Otherworld
Hardcover
Paperback
- Price:
- $49.95/拢42.00
- ISBN:
- Published:
- Jul 14, 2014
- Copyright:
- 1991
- Pages:
- 284
- Size:
- 6 x 9 in.
- Main_subject:
- Literature
ebook
A major reexamination of the novelist Vladimir Nabokov as 鈥渓iterary gamesman,鈥 this book systematically shows that behind his ironic manipulation of narrative and his puzzle-like treatment of detail there lies an aesthetic rooted in his intuition of a transcendent realm and in his consequent redefinition of 鈥渘ature鈥 and 鈥渁rtifice鈥 as synonyms. Beginning with Nabokov’s discursive writings, Vladimir Alexandrov finds his world view centered on the experience of epiphany—characterized by a sudden fusion of varied sensory data and memories, a feeling of timelessness, and an intuition of immortality—which grants the true artist intimations of an 鈥渙therworld.鈥 Readings of The Defense, Invitation to a Beheading, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita, and Pale Fire reveal the epiphanic experience to be a touchstone for the characters鈥 metaphysical insightfulness, moral makeup, and aesthetic sensibility, and to be a structural model for how the narratives themselves are fashioned and for the nature of the reader’s involvement with the text. In his conclusion, Alexandrov outlines several of Nabokov’s possible intellectual and artistic debts to the brilliant and variegated culture that flourished in Russia on the eve of the Revolution. Nabokov emerges as less alienated from Russian culture than most of his emigre readers believed, and as less 鈥渕odernist鈥 than many of his Western readers still imagine. 鈥淎lexandrov’s work is distinctive in that it applies an `otherworld鈥 hypothesis as a consistent context to Nabokov’s novels. The approach is obviously a fruitful one. Alexandrov is innovative in rooting Nabokov’s ethics and aesthetics in the otherwordly and contributes greatly to Nabokov studies by examining certain key terms such as `commonsense,鈥 `nature,鈥 and `artifice.鈥 In general Alexandrov’s study leads to a much clearer understanding of Nabokov’s metaphysics.鈥—D. Barton Johnson, University of California, Santa Barbara
Originally published in 1991.
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Awards and Recognition
- One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1991