The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin in relation to the Nabokovian tradition

The work considers how Eugene Vodolazkin interacts with the Nabokovian tradition in the novel The Aviator. The correlation study is justified by the numerous references to Nabokov's works in The Aviator and Vodolazkin's interview, according to which Nabokov is one of his favourite authors. The chosen perspective is fruitful due to the coincidence of the writers' aesthetic views in many aspects. The article analyzes the peculiar ways of memory themes imagining and creating in the novel by Vodolazkin to identify points of convergence and divergence between The Aviator and Nabokov's works. Methods of comparative, structural and style analysis are applied. The research reveals a similar understanding of memory nature by Vodolazkin and by Nabokov as a way to recall the past and its axiology when personal impressions and related feelings are of great value. The interrelation of mental and visual processes defines the key functions of memory in the novel: to distinguish the most precious moments of life and, bringing them together, to recreate the continuity of the world and clarify its deep meaning. It causes Vodolazkin to use close-ups, Nabokov-like “multilayer” images-recollections, to choose visual and aesthetic instruments simultaneously. Besides a Nabokov-like shift of the common perception of reality, Vodolazkin uses the convergence of viewpoints of the chronicler as a representative of epic perception and the aviator as a representative of lyric, modernist perception. It allows the author to create a “great canvas” of Russian life, similar to a chronicle corpus, and to reveal the original sense of being: invisible presence of eternity in every experienced moment. Preceded by Nabokov, Vodolazkin considers art as a way to preserve the past and to state the everlasting value of human “Ego”. Both writers prefer visual forms of art. Photography and cinematography actualize the timeless sense of being in the novel, the fine arts code manifests the internal, not evident, essence of a featured human being. Vodolazkin's style decisions are Nabokov-like as well. Besides considering the principle of shift and uncovering an image layer-by-layer, the article dwells on the reflection principle - the basic one for Nabokov's poetics. The Aviator organizes pairs of reflecting doublegangers who are the characters of Platonov's past and present life, his life in Petersburg and on the Solovki as well as his numerous intertextual double-gangers. The study concludes that Vodolazkin's imaginative dialogue with the Nab-okovian tradition is a purposeful strategy implemented on various levels of the novel's structure. Nabokovian implied sense is used as a way of mental influence on the reader to develop the writer's intention and clarify his perception of the sense of being and creating.

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