The Personality of N.S. Gumilev as a Standard of the Main Character’s Behavior in V.V. Nabokov’s Novel The Eye
The article considers the intertextual level of V.V. Nabokov’s novel The Eye. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of reminiscences and citations from N.S. Gumilev’s literary works, which were known and appreciated by V.V. Nabokov. It is proved that the mythologized image of the poet and war...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Studia Litterarum |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studlit.ru/images/2021-6-2/Filatov.pdf |
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| Summary: | The article considers the intertextual level of V.V. Nabokov’s novel The Eye. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of reminiscences and citations from N.S. Gumilev’s literary works, which were known and appreciated by V.V. Nabokov. It is proved that the mythologized image of the poet and warrior, as well as Gumilev’s characters, are the basis of the self-presentation strategy of Smurov, the central character of the novel. Being a creative person, he invents a fictional biography for himself in order to impress the society of Russian emigrants, especially the girl Vanya, with whom he is in love. However, numerous reminiscences to the Acmeist poet’s texts demonstrate an increasing discrepancy between the courageous and selfless characters of Gumilev and Smurov, who wants to look like a hero to the others, and not to be one in reality. The irony of Nabokov is that the real Smurov turns out to be a double of the comic character of A.P. Chekhov’s story Romance with Double Bass, also mentioned in the story, which is decrypted due to reminiscences on Chekhov’s works. |
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| ISSN: | 2500-4247 2541-8564 |