Vladimir Nabokov and Character Speak, Memory, Invitation to a Beheading, and Bend Sinister

Ben McCormick

Date of Award

2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Dimino, Andrea

Keywords

Nabokov, Vladimir, Characterization, Ethics

Area of Concentration

British and American Literature

Abstract

This thesis tries to respond to the ambiguities in Vladimir Nabokov's attacks on didacticism in art. It does this in part by looking at his methods of characterization, which are aesthetic practices that imply ethical stances on how one should conceive of and relate to, others. In my first chapter, I examine Nabokov's autobiography, Speak, Memory (1966), and his portrayal of the relationship of writing to the creation and remapping of the self. Nabokov's rhetoric and manipulation of narrative structure stress his free powers of self-creation, but he also suggests that writing dissolves identity, and he constructs himself with and against the presences and languages of others; furthermore, he explores the ethical implications of various ways to represent others. In my second chapter, I focus on two of Nabokov's novels dealing with totalitarianism, Invitation to a Beheading (1938) and Bend Sinister (1947), which call into question his stance against didacticism in literature. Nabokov tries to resolve this contradiction by framing his critique of totalitarianism in terms of postlost or brutalizing vulgarity; by creating characters who radically vary in depth and substance, he insists on the mystery of individual consciousness.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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