A major reexamination of the novelist Vladimir Nabokov as
"literary gamesman," this book systematically shows that behind his
ironic manipulation of narrative and his puzzle-like treatment of
detail there lies an aesthetic rooted in his intuition of a
transcendent realm and in his consequent redefinition of "nature"
and "artifice" as synonyms. Beginning with Nabokov's discursive
writings, Vladimir Alexandrov finds his world view centered on the
experience of epiphany--characterized by a sudden fusion of varied
sensory data and memories, a feeling of timelessness, and an
intuition of immortality--which grants the true artist intimations
of an "otherworld." Readings of The Defense, Invitation to a
Beheading, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita, and
Pale Fire reveal the epiphanic experience to be a touchstone for
the characters' metaphysical insightfulness, moral makeup, and
aesthetic sensibility, and to be a structural model for how the
narratives themselves are fashioned and for the nature of the
reader's involvement with the text. In his conclusion, Alexandrov
outlines several of Nabokov's possible intellectual and artistic
debts to the brilliant and variegated culture that flourished in
Russia on the eve of the Revolution. Nabokov emerges as less
alienated from Russian culture than most of his emigre readers
believed, and as less "modernist" than many of his Western readers
still imagine. "Alexandrov's work is distinctive in that it applies
an otherworld' hypothesis as a consistent context to Nabokov's
novels. The approach is obviously a fruitful one. Alexandrov is
innovative in rooting Nabokov's ethics and aesthetics in the
otherwordly and contributes greatly to Nabokov studies by examining
certain key terms such as commonsense, ' nature, ' and artifice.'
In general Alexandrov's study leads to a much clearer understanding
of Nabokov's metaphysics."--D. Barton Johnson, University of
California, Santa Barbara
Originally published in 1991.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books
from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.
These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these
important books while presenting them in durable paperback
editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly
increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the
thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since
its founding in 1905.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!