Excerpts not included into the final version of V.V. Nabokov's The Gift

The subject of analysis in the article is excerpts excluded form V.V. Nabokov's novel Gift. The most significant from these excerpts are stories "Circle", "The second addition to Gift" and the draft of a sequel of A.S. Pushkin's drama "Mermaid". These texts are studied in context of the history and culture of Russian emigration of 1920-1940s. Analysis of these contexts allows us to clarify the origin of these excerpts and their meaning in the structure of V.V. Nabokov's novel plot. On the early stages of the novel written in 1933, V.V. Nabokov was addressing topical political and literary discourses of Russian emigration. He used some typical opinions by N.G. Chernyshevsky for a written biography of this person. V.V. Nabokov borrowed the principle of construction of such a biography in A.S. Pushkin's biographies of 1920-1930s. The biography of N.G. Chernyshevsky was thought up as parody on a "novelized biography". At the same time, the biography of N.G. Chernyshevsky became a basis of the next level of the novel's plot, the subject of this was an illogical reality. One of the significant themes of Chernyshevsky's biography is the theme of "patterns", or coincidences. In search of "patterns", N.G. Chernyshevsky (as a character of Nabokov's novel) comprehends his own life as similar to a theater play. It is a way to a profound crisis, when an individual finds oneself in false realities. These levels of sense of Chernyshevsky's biography are found when comparing the story with the plot of "Circle". The plot of the story "Circle" is based on the theme of the incomprehensible reality of Russia which the main character of the story cannot enter. The analysis of the excerpt "The second addition to Gift" allows us to clarify the novel's plot sense levels which do not have a direct link with the history of Russian emigration. These levels of sense are connected with V.V. Nabokov's philosophical and natural ideas about similarity of the elements of universe. These elements may be interpreted as variants which can manifest their belonging to the universe in the way of mimicry. The ability to mimicry is a feature not only of butterflies, but also of time, space and individuals. Merging elements of the universe join in a new sequence of variants. Humanity is variable, too. V.V. Nabokov was interested in the images of androgynes, Siamese twins. He tried to understand what characteristics of reality these creatures are able to observe. A part of the soul of a dead person can be a part of the soul of a living person. This couple is also a part of variable humanity and variable reality. This idea is realized in the plot about communication with dead persons (not with ghosts). In drafts of the novel, Zina died and Theodore wrote some texts which have a link with this event. This way the stories "Solus Rex", "Ultima Thule" and the draft of a sequel of A.S. Pushkin's drama "Mermaid" were created.

Keywords

Authors

References