''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses
''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses ''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses
- 96 - ance which is all the ordinary ("average") mind per- ceives, and helps the reader penetrate it with him. Pnin anticipates much that will have to be discussed in connection with other novels. As they will be seen to do, it changes in the very process of being read. And as it changes, it becomes clear that the misunder- standings concerning the narrator and the criticism of him are brought about by a rather too close adher- ence to the simple factual information the novel pro- vides and by a neglect of its implications, that is by a more or less automatic reaction to its surface. It is true that the comic Pnin is rather. _prominent at first and that it seems tactless to expose what simply looks like his comic eccentricity and all his comic misadventures. It is equally true that the nar- rator sometimes rather seems to overstep the bounds of simple truth and to wander off into fiction. How- ever, it has by now turned out that it is not really Pnin who is exposed to ridicule but the general modern automatic approach to all aspects of life which results in a superficial knowledge of things and bars the way to an understanding of their real quality and nature] which fails to see and accept people as they are because it wants and reacts to machines rather than to live and real human beings. What the narrator gives us may not be the "true" 4. story of Pnin's life, nor the "true" Pnin, but his artistic versions of both are more rea1 than what the "communal eye" perceives. The question posed at the beginning, namely, whether the depiction and under-
- 97 - standing of a "truly human being" is possible has been answered by the novel: it is possible through a work of art, the artist's perception being superior to the perception of other minds, art being superior to other, "normal" approaches to life and people. 4.
- Page 51 and 52: - 46 - is blind where his wife and
- Page 53 and 54: - 48 - serious and profound experie
- Page 55 and 56: I. The Eye Pnin Lolita; Laughter*in
- Page 57 and 58: - 51 - novel. They illustrate how p
- Page 59 and 60: - 53 - tearing the banknote into li
- Page 61 and 62: - 55 - have before: after the suici
- Page 63 and 64: - 57 - imagination of Gretchen best
- Page 65 and 66: - 59 - deed been through an experie
- Page 67 and 68: - 61 - there must be some "model" a
- Page 69 and 70: - 63 - P NI N In their appreciation
- Page 71 and 72: - 65 - For the sake of convenience
- Page 73 and 74: - 67 - Pnin's appearance is comic,
- Page 75 and 76: - 69 - all-the time. He suffers an
- Page 77 and 78: - 71 - existence" (13). In his pres
- Page 79 and 80: - 73 - is going to give, on his per
- Page 81 and 82: - 75 - exist in such big sea" (60).
- Page 83 and 84: - 77 - directly from Pnin's peculia
- Page 85 and 86: - 79 - them at least 10ok like his
- Page 87 and 88: - 81 - indeed only the very thinnes
- Page 89 and 90: - 83 - but the group of academics w
- Page 91 and 92: - 85 - "schools and trends", and is
- Page 93 and 94: - 87 - which induces the reader to
- Page 95 and 96: - 89 - and-smiles at, there emerges
- Page 97 and 98: - 91 - More depth and reality are a
- Page 99 and 100: - 93 - cp. 180). The narrator also
- Page 101: 95 - being accurate in every point,
- Page 105 and 106: - 99 - eternal beauty, and his conv
- Page 107 and 108: - 101 - One luckless early critic w
- Page 109 and 110: - 103 - says "well-read" Humbert Hu
- Page 111 and 112: - 105 - surface, into the initial m
- Page 113 and 114: - 107 - age. She was the "initial g
- Page 115 and 116: - 109 - and implies in the parody t
- Page 117 and 118: - 111 - He is equally inaccurate in
- Page 119 and 120: - 113 - with Quilty; and, of course
- Page 121 and 122: - 115 - or to hold her on his knee
- Page 123 and 124: - 117 - ations ) (98). And he descr
- Page 125 and 126: - 119 - a strident, harsh high voic
- Page 127 and 128: - 121 - When Humbert talks of his d
- Page 129 and 130: - 123 -- could victimize her poor d
- Page 131 and 132: - 125 - this twelve-year-old girl s
- Page 133 and 134: - 127 - done her morning duty" (161
- Page 135 and 136: - 129 - experience, up to a certain
- Page 137 and 138: - 131 - her: "... -a life full of t
- Page 139 and 140: - 133 - Looking at it for a moment
- Page 141 and 142: - 135 - and Axel Rex delightful. Bu
- Page 143 and 144: - 137 - critics have made her, and
- Page 145 and 146: - 139 - not record images of the sy
- Page 147 and 148: - 141 - ous hallucination" (287). 6
- Page 149 and 150: - 143 - No hereafter is acceptable
- Page 151 and 152: - 145 - be possible for him to be t
- 97 -<br />
standing of a "truly human being" is possible has been<br />
answered by the novel: it is possible through a work<br />
of art, the artist's perception being superior to the<br />
perception of other minds, art being superior to<br />
other, "normal" approaches to life and people.<br />
4.
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