Nabokov and Indeterminacy: The Case of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (Studies in Russian Literature and Theory)

In__Nabokov and Indeterminacy__, Priscilla Meyer shows how Vladimir Nabokov’s early novel__The Real Life of Sebastian Knight__illuminates his later work. Meyer first focuses on__Sebastian Knight__, exploring how Nabokov associates his characters with systems of subtextual references to Russian, British, and American literary and philosophical works. She then turns to__Lolita__and__Pale Fire__, applying these insights to show that these later novels clearly differentiate the characters through subtextual references, and that__Sebastian Knight’s__construction models that of__Pale Fire__.Meyer argues that the dialogue Nabokov constructs among subtexts explores his central concern: the continued existence of the spirit beyond bodily death. She suggests that because Nabokov’s art was a quest for an unattainable knowledge of the otherworldly, knowledge which can never be conclusive, Nabokov’s novels are never closed in plot, theme, or resolution—they take as their hidden theme the unfinalizability that Bakhtin says characterizes all novels.The conclusions of Nabokov's novels demand a rereading, and each rereading yields a different novel. The reader can never get back to the same beginning, never attain a conclusion, and instead becomes an adept of Nabokov’s quest. Meyer emphasizes that, unlike much postmodern fiction, the contradictions created by Nabokov’s multiple paths do not imply that existence is constructed arbitrarily of pre-existing fragments, but rather that these fragments lead to an ever-deepening approach to the unknowable. In Nabokov and Indeterminacy , Priscilla Meyer shows how Vladimir Nabokov’s early novel The Real Life of Sebastian Knight illuminates his later work. Meyer first focuses on Sebastian Knight , exploring how Nabokov associates his characters with systems of subtextual references to Russian, British, and American literary and philosophical works. She then turns to Lolita and Pale Fire , applying these insights to show that these later novels clearly differentiate the characters through subtextual references, and that Sebastian Knight’s construction models that of Pale Fire . Meyer argues that the dialogue Nabokov constructs among subtexts explores his central concern: the continued existence of the spirit beyond bodily death. She suggests that because Nabokov’s art was a quest for an unattainable knowledge of the otherworldly, knowledge which can never be conclusive, Nabokov’s novels are never closed in plot, theme, or resolution—they take as their hidden theme the unfinalizability that Bakhtin says characterizes all novels. The conclusions of Nabokov's novels demand a rereading, and each rereading yields a different novel. The reader can never get back to the same beginning, never attain a conclusion, and instead becomes an adept of Nabokov’s quest. Meyer emphasizes that, unlike much postmodern fiction, the contradictions created by Nabokov’s multiple paths do not imply that existence is constructed arbitrarily of pre-existing fragments, but rather that these fragments lead to an ever-deepening approach to the unknowable. Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 14 Part I—Art/Reality 30 Chapter One: Mirrored Worlds 32 This World and the Otherworld: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight and Despair 32 The Real Hound, the Real Knight 46 Part II—Russian/Anglophone 56 Chapter Two: British Subtexts 58 Lewis Carroll 59 Virginia Woolf 67 Chapter Three: American Subtexts 80 Godfrey Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, and Samuel Goodrich, aka Peter Parley 82 Nathaniel Hawthorne 86 Henry James 97 Part III— Life/Death 102 Chapter Four: The Unknowable 104 Spiritualism: From America to Russia 104 Lolita and Pale Fire: Dolores Haze, Hazel Shade 121 Chapter Five: Uncertainty 134 Lolita and the Genre of Literary Doubles: Does Quilty Exist? 134 Parallel Structures: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight and Pale Fire 145 Conclusion 159 Notes 164 Bibliography 184 Index 196