Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir Nabokov

When examining the critical responses to Vladimir Nabokov’s representations of Berlin in his Russian fiction, it is quite surprising to notice that two antithetical positions have been formulated, one which stresses the absence of Berlin as a city in Nabokov’s texts, and a more recent position empha...

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Main Author: Monica Manolescu-Oancea
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires du Midi 2009-12-01
Series:Anglophonia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/acs/1548
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author Monica Manolescu-Oancea
author_facet Monica Manolescu-Oancea
author_sort Monica Manolescu-Oancea
collection DOAJ
description When examining the critical responses to Vladimir Nabokov’s representations of Berlin in his Russian fiction, it is quite surprising to notice that two antithetical positions have been formulated, one which stresses the absence of Berlin as a city in Nabokov’s texts, and a more recent position emphasizing, on the contrary, the substantial presence of the city in terms of references, landmarks and recognizable sites. This article adopts a different stance, focusing on two Old Testament motifs that appear in Nabokov’s last Russian novel (The Gift) and in his autobiography, namely the Tower of Babel and the letters of fire from the book of Daniel. Starting from these motifs involving shop signs, letters and light, I attempt to connect the urban scene of exile with the issue of bilingualism, and to show in what ways Nabokov’s use of these two biblical topoi points to a vision of literary creation as transgression. The problem of Berlin’s existence or non-existence in Nabokov’s work is therefore shifted from the domain of mimetic representation onto a different plane, where the signs of Berlin are closely examined and decoded, thus giving access to a possible understanding of the writer’s change of language and of his larger aesthetic project.
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spelling doaj-art-d20feebc34134e80ad2cfead69c703812025-01-30T12:34:06ZengPresses Universitaires du MidiAnglophonia1278-33312427-04662009-12-012519120210.4000/caliban.1548Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir NabokovMonica Manolescu-OanceaWhen examining the critical responses to Vladimir Nabokov’s representations of Berlin in his Russian fiction, it is quite surprising to notice that two antithetical positions have been formulated, one which stresses the absence of Berlin as a city in Nabokov’s texts, and a more recent position emphasizing, on the contrary, the substantial presence of the city in terms of references, landmarks and recognizable sites. This article adopts a different stance, focusing on two Old Testament motifs that appear in Nabokov’s last Russian novel (The Gift) and in his autobiography, namely the Tower of Babel and the letters of fire from the book of Daniel. Starting from these motifs involving shop signs, letters and light, I attempt to connect the urban scene of exile with the issue of bilingualism, and to show in what ways Nabokov’s use of these two biblical topoi points to a vision of literary creation as transgression. The problem of Berlin’s existence or non-existence in Nabokov’s work is therefore shifted from the domain of mimetic representation onto a different plane, where the signs of Berlin are closely examined and decoded, thus giving access to a possible understanding of the writer’s change of language and of his larger aesthetic project.https://journals.openedition.org/acs/1548intertextualitéVladimir NabokovBerlinvilles en littératuremotifs bibliquesexil
spellingShingle Monica Manolescu-Oancea
Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir Nabokov
Anglophonia
intertextualité
Vladimir Nabokov
Berlin
villes en littérature
motifs bibliques
exil
title Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir Nabokov
title_full Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir Nabokov
title_fullStr Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir Nabokov
title_full_unstemmed Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir Nabokov
title_short Tours de Babel et lettres de feu : motifs bibliques dans le Berlin de Vladimir Nabokov
title_sort tours de babel et lettres de feu motifs bibliques dans le berlin de vladimir nabokov
topic intertextualité
Vladimir Nabokov
Berlin
villes en littérature
motifs bibliques
exil
url https://journals.openedition.org/acs/1548
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