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An Approach to Characterization in Nabokov's English Novels Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. STRUCTURE AND STYLE: AN APPROACH TO CHARACTERIZATION IN NABOKOV'S ENGLISH NOVELS A THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH AT MASSEY UNIVERSITY SUZANN CLAIR OLSSON 1983 Massey University Library. Thesis Copyright Form Title of thesis: Structure and Stvle: An Approach to Charac- terization in Nabokov1s English Novels (1) (a) I give permission for my _thesis to be made available to readers in the Massey University Library under conditions determined by the Librarian. (b) I �ot Jl.is"h my �is to_y-m.ade�labl_>Ao �dg.s w1tho�y �� cons� fo� �o�. � (2) (a) I a�xee that my....-t:hes� or �py,� be�t toy ot�r i.-a-St it nfi- on..--Gn"d e �ndit:LcmS d e�rmineMy the,.--UbrjU':("an. (b) I do not wish my thesis, or a copy, to be sent to another /� institution without my written consent for months. (3) (a) I agree that my thesis may be copied for Library use. (b) s ��r�� //m� �� Signed J� (!_{)ur;� ��-------------------- ---- Date �/1/tb. The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author. Readers must sign their name in the space below to show that they recognise this. They are asked to add their permanent address. NAME AND ADDRESS DATE MASSEY UN'VERSIT'r Ll3lA�Y ABSTRACT Nabokov was both teacher and artist, and this study examines his own views about writing and reading , as contained in his published lectures and interviews , in order to approach his literary practices in the English novels. For the purposes of analysing the "architectonics" of a text, Nabokov distinguishes between two aspects of form: style ("the manner of the author") and structure ("the planned pattern of a work," which includes both formal properties--conventions , techniques, garre--and the arrangement of content--story development, the "choice" and "interplay" of characters) . Part One of thi s thesis examines this distinction and its consequences in order to explain the principles which underlie the self-conscious strategies of Nabokov 's writing. The paradoxical alliance of artifice and realism in what he calls "the facts of fiction" are related to his attitudes towards 'facts ' and 'reality ' in life (Chapter One) ; the methods of his style , in their contribution towards a continuing dialectic of forms , involve distinctions between imitative and innovative styles, and between impersonal and personal representations (Chapter Two ) ; his fiction embraces a variety of human discourse , from scholarly research to art, and plays upon the distinctions between non-fictive re-construction and artistic re-creation (Chapter Three) . Throughout the English novels , characters are dramatized in a process of choosing styles which may or may not conform to Nabokov 's structural design but which represent the 110ther selves" of personality . Nabokov 's structuring of the novels provides a critical perspective on these stylizations . The descriptive framework outlined in Part One is the basis for an account in Part Two of the particular relationships which are established between structure and style in each of the English novels. Nabokov's main approach is to present a narrative through first-person narrators working within non-fictive conventions of representation . Thi s format is used in The Rear Life of Sebastian Knight� Pnin� Lorita� Pa re Fire� Ada and Look at the Harrequins ! In Bend Sinister and Transparent Things , however , Nabokov presents the narrative through omniscient and intrusive authorial figures . Chapters Four and Five examine the di ffering narrative structures of The ReaZ Life of Sebastian Knight and Bend Sinister. In The ReaZ Life of Sebastian Knight Nabokov establishes a conflict between the conventions of biography and V. 's stylizations ; this conflict suggests how V. functions as an imitative novelist, identifying with an idealized portrait of artistic sensibility. Bend Sinister brings together an outer triune of author, work of art and reader with an inner triune of world, totalitarian state and individual in order to explore the analogies between an artistic "theatre of the mind" and self­ representation; in particular, Nabokov 's design reveals how Krug 's incomplete self-characterization contributes to his downfall . Nabokov 's structural exploration of "individual reality" in Pnin (Chapter Six) also draws attention to the way his narrator 's 'biographical ' portrait of Pnin is a form of artistic impersonation; the narrator, together with Jack Cockerell, is part of a "troika" of personalities , the "radix" of which is the individual style of Timofey Pnin. Chapter Seven analyses the way the differing narrative structures of PaZe Fire and Transparent Things play parodically with the interrelationships and distinctions betwe en artistic and non-fictive representations. Finally , Chapter Eight offers some suggestions about the ways in which Nabokov 's structuring of the three memoirs--Lo Zita , Ada , and Look at the HarZequins ! --elaborates his concern with memory as the basis of "individual reality. " ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr E.W. Slinn of Massey University and Dr J. Lamb of Auckland University for their generous advice and continuing assistance throughout the various stages of my research and writing . I am grateful to the memb ers of the English Department at Massey University who have given me encouragement, and to the many other people who have provided me with practical help and support. I would also like to thank Dr B. Boyd of Auckland University for providing me with a copy of his manuscript, "Nabokov and Human Consciousness." Finally , I wish to express my particular appreciation to Mrs E.V. Oram for the exacting care and effort she has put into the typing of this thesis. TAB LE OF CONTENTS PAGE TITLE PAGE i AB STRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS V ABBREVIATIONS vii INTRODUCTION viii PART ONE CHAPTER 1 NABOKOV 'S "FACTS OF FICTION" 2 NOTES 19 CHAPTER 2 STRUCTURE AND STYLE 23 NOTES 41 CHAPTER 3 ARTISTIC RE -C REATION 46 NOTES 70 PART TWO 76 CHAPTER 4 THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT 77 NOTES 105 CHAPTER 5 THE STRUCTURAL LEVELS OF BEND SINISTER 107 NOTES 147 CHAPTE R 6 THE ROLE OF THE NARRATOR IN PNIN 148 NOTES 182 CHAPTER 7 PALE FIR E AND TRANSPARENT THINGS: ANALOGIES AND DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN ART AND LIFE 185 NOTES 233 TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTD) PAGE CHAPTER 8 STRUCTURE IN THE MEMOIRS : LOLITA� ADA AND LOOK AT THE HARLEQUINS ! 238 NOTES 273 A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 279 ABBREVIATIONS The following abb reviations are used when citing Nabokov' s works: TG The Gift RLSK The Real Life of Sebastian Knight BS Bend Sinister L Lo lita p Pnin PF Pa le Fire A Ada or Ardor: A Fami ly Chronicle TT Transparent Things LA TH Look at the Harlequins ! SM : Sp eak> Memory : An Autobiography Revisited NG Nikolai Gogol LL Lectures on Literature LRL Lectures on Russian Literature LDQ Lectures on Don Quixote so Strong Opinions The editions used for these works are given in the bibliography . INTRODUCTION Vladimir Nabokov was a teacher as well as a creative artist. His extensive non-fictional work up to "The Last Interview" with Robert Robinson reveals many of th e attitudes he brought to literature . The posthumous publication of three volumes of his academic lectures, edited by Fredson Bowers , adds to his non-fictional writings by illustrating the approach he took to reading and analysing literary texts . This study seeks to apply Nabokov 's views and critical approach to an examination of his literary practices , particularly his characteri zations . In my first chapter I suggest how Nabokov 's attitudes to 'facts ' and 'reality ' in life are re flected in his approach to what he calls "the facts of fiction" (LDQ , p. 1) . The critical distinctions he provides for analysing the "architectonics" (SO, p. 264) of authorial composition are then used in the following chapters to discuss hi s own literary practices. In Chapter Two Nabokov 's self-conscious strategies are discussed in order to show how they contribute to a dialectic of forms and establish distinctions between impersonal and personal uses of language and between imitative and innovative styles . In Chapter Three I de scribe how his self-conscious acts of individual 're-creation ' incorporate distinctions between impersonal and personal representations of 'reality ' and between non-fictional re-construction and artistic re -creation . The "architectonics" of Nabokov 's work are seen to be integral to his characterizations . Throughout the English novels he dramatizes characters in the process of choosing styles to represent their conscious 'realities ' to themselves and to others . In Part One I examine how the relationships which Nabokov establishes between hi s structural principles and his characters ' stylizations disclose a de scriptive framework for reading his novels . In Part Two I use thi s framework as a basis for discussing the ways in which the relationships between structure and style in each of the English novels contribute to the factual and thematic effects of his characterizations . The difference between this study and existing Nabokovian criticism arises mainly from my attempt to use his pedagogical approach as we ll as his views on art and life to examine characterization in his novels . The originality or merit of Nabokov 's ideas does not concern me . Romantic scholars may suggest that Nabokov has some things in common with Wordsworth and Coleridge . Alternatively , post-structuralist critics may relate their own philosophical scepticism to Nabokov 's preoccupation with paradox and his parodic undermining of absolutes .
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