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Dissertation Abstract for Vera B. Polishchuk
From
Date
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EDITOR's NOTE. Vera Polishchuk's dissertation was done at The Hertzen
Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg in late 2000. The number of
Russian Nabokov dissertations in Russian grows each year. No Nabokov
specialist can afford to ignore this increasingly important source of
information and insight.
---------------------
The Poetics of Things in Nabokov▓s Prose
by Vera B.Polischouk <znakt@peterlink.ru>
The dissertation is devoted to the problem of material objects as a
special category in Nabokov▓s texts. The main aim of the study is to
reconstruct the evolution of the conception of the "thing" in general
and to reveal certain intertextual connections and sources of external
influence which can explain (partly!) this evolution. Nabokov started
this evolving device by using "things" for ⌠realistic description■ (the
reality effect, as Roland Barthe put it) and by the time of ⌠Dar■ (The
Gift) and ⌠Priglashenie..■ (Invitation) things had evolved into his
private metaphysical symbols.
In his Cornell lectures on literature Nabokov kept asking his students
to be very attentive to details and not to ⌠general ideas■: ⌠Caress the
divine details■. And it▓s very important to mention that during his
German years he wrote an essay ⌠Man and Things■(actually, before writing
Korol▓, Dama, Valet). The importance of " things" for him was the human
relation to them. A material object is a reflection of a human being. It
can remind us of something, it can be animated in our perception and
look like a man or an animal.
Though concrete ⌠thing■ images have sometimes been discussed in Nabokov
studies, there has been no attempt to generalize the laws of their
functioning in his texts. The dissertation is also aimed to settle a
certain terminological problem in Russian literary studies in general,
that is, to define categories for the description of ⌠material
world■(predmetnyi mir) which has never been done. In Russian there are
two words of the same meaning √ ⌠vesh▓ ■(thing) and ⌠predmet■ (object).
Nabokov himself generally used the word ⌠thing■ which in his early
Berlin essay he had defined as ⌠anything created by human hands■. The
problem is that Russian critical studies concerning the problem tend to
mix ⌠thing■ with ⌠detail■ without outlining the important difference.
The material of the study is generally ⌠Korol▓, Dama, Valet■ and its
English version, but I also touch on early stories, plays, ⌠Mashen▓ka■
and later novels. The choice of the text can be explained by the need to
study the turning point in ⌠thing evolution■: during the period
1926-1928 Nabokov starts to work out his cluster of characteristic
devices, especially those based on ⌠other▓s text■ quotation and other
types of intertextual references.
In KDV we can also trace the evolution of Nabokov▓s ⌠dominant things■,
which can be generally be described as a special category in our study.
These material objects initially have a great semiotic potential than
in world literature. For Nabokov they start as a kind of personal
markers of the omnipotent author▓s presence in the text (such as
butterfly images) and end as metaphysical symbols. They help him to
interweave his main themes of ⌠spiritual blindness■ and ⌠manipulation■,
i.e. both omnipotent author and his doll-like characters, and the crime
of manipulating a human being like a doll as, for example,. Humbert and
Lolita. They also can (and do) carry a great many intertextual allusions
and innuendos, which I analyze in 3 chapters.. It▓s necessary to mention
that ⌠mirror■ and ⌠doll■ are the names for two chains of synonim
variants: ⌠mirror■ can be realized in the text as any optical device or
any material object having a ⌠frame■(even a book in some cases) and thus
being a possible edge to another world. ⌠Doll■ varies from a marionette
to a marble statue and the main feature if its human likeness.
There are three groups of ⌠thing■-based allusions described in the
dissertation, according to three important sources of influence.
1. Juri Olesha and his first novel ⌠The Envy■(1929) was certainly read
by Nabokov. The very idea of a special ⌠world of things■ was drawn from
the novel and this idea is illustrated by many examples. The important
vision motif which later grows into one of Nabokov▓s dominating themes,
also starts here. Some images of ⌠doll■ and ⌠mirror■ were noticed by
Nabokov too, but it was another writer who really made him pay attention
to the symbol side.
2. Allusions indicating to E. T.A. Hoffmann. They lie in the very core
of the plot and therefore are connected with two things-- material
objects especially loved by Nabokov. The Mirror can be read as a symbol
of the boundary between two worlds. Mirror images also indicate the
theme of a true artist. It▓s obvious that a true artist has the gift of
vision and a banal person with no imagination is metaphorically blind.
As for dolls, N punishes characters who try to manipulate somebody as
a puppet. Also he stresses the idea that his characters are puppets for
him and he, the Puppenmeister.
There are some general features, which had been described by Hoffmann
scholars long ago √ and in my opinion they can be easily found in
Nabokov▓s novels. Hoffmann oftenly used images of various optic
appliances √ glasses, telescopes √ and generally glass and mirror
images, which can be grouped under the label "magic crystals." In
Nabokov▓s case we have the same device. Then, in every second Hoffmann▓s
novel we find a doll, a puppet, an automaton √ usually animated by some
evil or good charms or by someone▓s imagination (as in ⌠The
Nut-cracker■). In KDV these images create the Hoffmanesque atmosphere of
Berlin and also indicate to several possible variants of the plot
developing. Unlike Nabokov and Olesha problem, this aspect has not ben
previously discussed --- nor has the following one.
3. German Expessionist Cinema of 20▓s was mainly based on Hoffmann▓s
Romantic conception and devices and KDV contains many examples which
can be considered as direct quotations from the movies Nabokov saw.
Point 2 and 3 deal with the special problem of ⌠German Influence■, which
Nabokov usually denied, stressing his disgust for all things German.
While analysing these two sources of influence on his ⌠thing■
conception, we at the same time find a ⌠conclusive evidence■ that the
disgust was a part of Nabokov Myth.
Generally speaking, in KDV Nabokov starts to develop a feature which
later becomes very characteristic for his poetics. Most of the details
and especially material objects have several functions in the text. For
example a material object can simultaneously serve as an allusion to
some other text or even two or three texts, while also being a part of
some hidden motif and a sign of author▓s presence in the text.
Comparison of the two versions of the novel by Jane Grayson is also used
in the dissertation and helps to reveal unnoticed changes in the text
connected with thing images. As for ⌠thing usage■ study in general,
further investigation in Nabokov▓ prose helps to trace many important
features of Nabokov▓s poetics and, besides, to add new pieces to the
puzzle of his metaphysical conception as it▓s been reconstructed by
V.E.Alexandrov. No doubt, there can be found a connection between
Nabokov▓s idea of "thing" and his "otherworld" ideas. According to
Nabokov, what remains after death is vision (let us remember the
recurrent image of a person turning into one enormous Eye). A writer
describes the world down to the minutest details (and these details are
mostly things, which surround us in our earth life and carry multiple
functions as described in the dissertation). The more you are able to
see and to depict in your life, the more you can take into your
afterlife and the more of your personality will be saved after you
physically disappear (Sebastian Knight still lives, laughing, in his
five volumes! ) Nabokov always thought that an ability to look and to
see should be one of the main features of true artists. Thus one▓s
attention to the smallest ⌠divine details■ of the world, to define soul
in any material object can be considered, as well as vividness of
imagination, Nabokov▓s own way to immortality.
Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg in late 2000. The number of
Russian Nabokov dissertations in Russian grows each year. No Nabokov
specialist can afford to ignore this increasingly important source of
information and insight.
---------------------
The Poetics of Things in Nabokov▓s Prose
by Vera B.Polischouk <znakt@peterlink.ru>
The dissertation is devoted to the problem of material objects as a
special category in Nabokov▓s texts. The main aim of the study is to
reconstruct the evolution of the conception of the "thing" in general
and to reveal certain intertextual connections and sources of external
influence which can explain (partly!) this evolution. Nabokov started
this evolving device by using "things" for ⌠realistic description■ (the
reality effect, as Roland Barthe put it) and by the time of ⌠Dar■ (The
Gift) and ⌠Priglashenie..■ (Invitation) things had evolved into his
private metaphysical symbols.
In his Cornell lectures on literature Nabokov kept asking his students
to be very attentive to details and not to ⌠general ideas■: ⌠Caress the
divine details■. And it▓s very important to mention that during his
German years he wrote an essay ⌠Man and Things■(actually, before writing
Korol▓, Dama, Valet). The importance of " things" for him was the human
relation to them. A material object is a reflection of a human being. It
can remind us of something, it can be animated in our perception and
look like a man or an animal.
Though concrete ⌠thing■ images have sometimes been discussed in Nabokov
studies, there has been no attempt to generalize the laws of their
functioning in his texts. The dissertation is also aimed to settle a
certain terminological problem in Russian literary studies in general,
that is, to define categories for the description of ⌠material
world■(predmetnyi mir) which has never been done. In Russian there are
two words of the same meaning √ ⌠vesh▓ ■(thing) and ⌠predmet■ (object).
Nabokov himself generally used the word ⌠thing■ which in his early
Berlin essay he had defined as ⌠anything created by human hands■. The
problem is that Russian critical studies concerning the problem tend to
mix ⌠thing■ with ⌠detail■ without outlining the important difference.
The material of the study is generally ⌠Korol▓, Dama, Valet■ and its
English version, but I also touch on early stories, plays, ⌠Mashen▓ka■
and later novels. The choice of the text can be explained by the need to
study the turning point in ⌠thing evolution■: during the period
1926-1928 Nabokov starts to work out his cluster of characteristic
devices, especially those based on ⌠other▓s text■ quotation and other
types of intertextual references.
In KDV we can also trace the evolution of Nabokov▓s ⌠dominant things■,
which can be generally be described as a special category in our study.
These material objects initially have a great semiotic potential than
in world literature. For Nabokov they start as a kind of personal
markers of the omnipotent author▓s presence in the text (such as
butterfly images) and end as metaphysical symbols. They help him to
interweave his main themes of ⌠spiritual blindness■ and ⌠manipulation■,
i.e. both omnipotent author and his doll-like characters, and the crime
of manipulating a human being like a doll as, for example,. Humbert and
Lolita. They also can (and do) carry a great many intertextual allusions
and innuendos, which I analyze in 3 chapters.. It▓s necessary to mention
that ⌠mirror■ and ⌠doll■ are the names for two chains of synonim
variants: ⌠mirror■ can be realized in the text as any optical device or
any material object having a ⌠frame■(even a book in some cases) and thus
being a possible edge to another world. ⌠Doll■ varies from a marionette
to a marble statue and the main feature if its human likeness.
There are three groups of ⌠thing■-based allusions described in the
dissertation, according to three important sources of influence.
1. Juri Olesha and his first novel ⌠The Envy■(1929) was certainly read
by Nabokov. The very idea of a special ⌠world of things■ was drawn from
the novel and this idea is illustrated by many examples. The important
vision motif which later grows into one of Nabokov▓s dominating themes,
also starts here. Some images of ⌠doll■ and ⌠mirror■ were noticed by
Nabokov too, but it was another writer who really made him pay attention
to the symbol side.
2. Allusions indicating to E. T.A. Hoffmann. They lie in the very core
of the plot and therefore are connected with two things-- material
objects especially loved by Nabokov. The Mirror can be read as a symbol
of the boundary between two worlds. Mirror images also indicate the
theme of a true artist. It▓s obvious that a true artist has the gift of
vision and a banal person with no imagination is metaphorically blind.
As for dolls, N punishes characters who try to manipulate somebody as
a puppet. Also he stresses the idea that his characters are puppets for
him and he, the Puppenmeister.
There are some general features, which had been described by Hoffmann
scholars long ago √ and in my opinion they can be easily found in
Nabokov▓s novels. Hoffmann oftenly used images of various optic
appliances √ glasses, telescopes √ and generally glass and mirror
images, which can be grouped under the label "magic crystals." In
Nabokov▓s case we have the same device. Then, in every second Hoffmann▓s
novel we find a doll, a puppet, an automaton √ usually animated by some
evil or good charms or by someone▓s imagination (as in ⌠The
Nut-cracker■). In KDV these images create the Hoffmanesque atmosphere of
Berlin and also indicate to several possible variants of the plot
developing. Unlike Nabokov and Olesha problem, this aspect has not ben
previously discussed --- nor has the following one.
3. German Expessionist Cinema of 20▓s was mainly based on Hoffmann▓s
Romantic conception and devices and KDV contains many examples which
can be considered as direct quotations from the movies Nabokov saw.
Point 2 and 3 deal with the special problem of ⌠German Influence■, which
Nabokov usually denied, stressing his disgust for all things German.
While analysing these two sources of influence on his ⌠thing■
conception, we at the same time find a ⌠conclusive evidence■ that the
disgust was a part of Nabokov Myth.
Generally speaking, in KDV Nabokov starts to develop a feature which
later becomes very characteristic for his poetics. Most of the details
and especially material objects have several functions in the text. For
example a material object can simultaneously serve as an allusion to
some other text or even two or three texts, while also being a part of
some hidden motif and a sign of author▓s presence in the text.
Comparison of the two versions of the novel by Jane Grayson is also used
in the dissertation and helps to reveal unnoticed changes in the text
connected with thing images. As for ⌠thing usage■ study in general,
further investigation in Nabokov▓ prose helps to trace many important
features of Nabokov▓s poetics and, besides, to add new pieces to the
puzzle of his metaphysical conception as it▓s been reconstructed by
V.E.Alexandrov. No doubt, there can be found a connection between
Nabokov▓s idea of "thing" and his "otherworld" ideas. According to
Nabokov, what remains after death is vision (let us remember the
recurrent image of a person turning into one enormous Eye). A writer
describes the world down to the minutest details (and these details are
mostly things, which surround us in our earth life and carry multiple
functions as described in the dissertation). The more you are able to
see and to depict in your life, the more you can take into your
afterlife and the more of your personality will be saved after you
physically disappear (Sebastian Knight still lives, laughing, in his
five volumes! ) Nabokov always thought that an ability to look and to
see should be one of the main features of true artists. Thus one▓s
attention to the smallest ⌠divine details■ of the world, to define soul
in any material object can be considered, as well as vividness of
imagination, Nabokov▓s own way to immortality.