V. Nabokov’s reception of Russian poetry in the novels Mashenka and The Real Life of Sebastian Knight: reenactment of the estate myth

About the authors:

Anastasiia O. Drozdova, Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Senior Lecturer, Researcher, Russian and Foreign Literature Department, Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; an.o.droz@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5728-142X

Margarita A. Semenova, Research Assistant, Russian and Foreign Literature Department, Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; margaritasem3014@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2486-462X

Abstract:

Modern researchers of V. Nabokov’s oeuvre actively analyze the role of the intertext in his works. Yet, the role of the allusion at the different stages of Nabokov’s work is the least explored subject in the contemporary literary studies. This research aims to define how Nabokov’s interpretation of the Russian classical literature, and particularly the tradition of the Russian country estate poetry changes in his early years in American. The authors compare two Nabokov’s novels — his first novel, Mashenka, and the first novel in English, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. Special interest is paid to the images and motifs referring to the country estate poems by I. S. Turgenev, A. A. Fet, S. Ya. Nadson, N. P. Ogarev, and I. A. Bunin. Using the methods of structural-semiotics and intertextual analysis, the authors scrutinize the strategies of Nabokov’s reception of the country estate poetry and highlight the influence of Russian poetry allusions on Nabokov’s artistic worlds. The results show that Nabokov’s interpretive strategies change due to his language transition and the appeal to the English-speaking reader. In Mashenka, the allusions to the country estate poetry determine the artistic modality of the novel and organize the portrait of the protagonist’s beloved, while in The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Nabokov examines the history of the country estate poetry and incorporates his earlier works into the tradition of the estate myth.

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