''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
- 315 - of his mental struggle, and new failure, and collapse. From the moment that the existence of a second "I" has been established for Hermann, his sense of his own identity is shaken. Embarrassingly trivial things have to help him restore it for the moment when he gets back to the hotel after the first encounter with Felix. In the mirror in the hotel room he sees not himself but Felix, and I remember that the small marks of conscious existence such as the dust in my nose, the black dirt between the heel and the shank of one shoe, hunger, and presently the rough brown taste tinged with lemon of a large, flat veal cutlet in the grillroom, strangely absorbed my attention as if I were looking for, and finding (and still doubting a little) proofs that I was I, and that this I... was really at a hotel... and had nothing in common with a certain tramp who, at the moment, was lolling under a bush (24-25). But he never succeeds in restoring his identity for good. For a little while, back in Berlin, his memory of Felix heals up, but then he starts having visions: Out of the darkness, straight towards me, with jaw protruding and eyes looking straight into mine, came Felix (60). He writes to him, he meets him again, once again he succeeds in freeing himself from his influence: "Felix, my double, seemed no more than a harmless curio". (113). But then a chance incident, a misunderstanding, throws him back into the state which he is struggling to es- cape. He impetuously commands the maid to dismiss the man he thinks is Felix: Then tell him to go to hell!... Let him be gone at once, I'm not at home, I'm not in town, I'm not in this world,... only to rush after the man the next moment (120). From
- 316 - this attack of his second self he hever recovers: I could not quite make out at the time what was going on in me - but now I know what it was: my passion for my double was surging anew with a muffled but formidable violence which soon escaped all conctrol (124). Hermann's peace of mind and secure sense of identity can only be regained if one of his selves is destroyed. The murder of Felix, which has on one level a purely practical function (getting hold of the insurance money) is to do this for him: "... if you think that my prompter's name was Gain - capital G not C- then you are mightily mistaken" (100). But the crime is also to fulfill another function. Felix is murdered, but he is then dressed in Hermann's clothes. The murder is made to look like a suicide. Hermann puts on Felix's clothes and assumes his role. The purpose of the crime is not only to dispose of one of Hermann's selves and enable him to re-establish one identity for himself; Hermann also hopes that the crime will enable him to discard his own old un- happy self, and to slip into a new and completely different, and happy identity. However, he finds that he cannot do either. He can- not completely resume his old identity: "Try as I may I do not succeed in getting back into my original en- velope, let alone making myself comfortable in my old self" (29). But he cannot completely discard his old self either. He is still conscious of it, so much so that he tries to hide it by growing a beard: "... that beard of mine has done jolly well, and in such a short time too! I am disguised so perfectly, as to be in-
- Page 271 and 272: - 264 - even for his own death. It
- Page 273 and 274: - 266 - TRANSPARENT THINGS An old N
- Page 275 and 276: - 268 - the name as if it were simp
- Page 277 and 278: - 270- Armande that has brought him
- Page 279 and 280: - 272 - a conscious effort. Things
- Page 281 and 282: - 274 - intention either to convey
- Page 283 and 284: - 276 - past with utmost precision
- Page 285 and 286: - 278 - Hugh Person ignores a vague
- Page 287 and 288: - 280 - the wall which in his wakin
- Page 289 and 290: - 282 - thus opening the view into
- Page 291 and 292: - 284 - tain moments he positively
- Page 293 and 294: - 286 - We thought that he had in h
- Page 295 and 296: - 288 - The thought throws more lig
- Page 297 and 298: - 290 - That Nabokov does consider
- Page 299 and 300: - 292 - which strangely prefigures
- Page 301 and 302: - 294 - become no doubt a new bible
- Page 303 and 304: - 296 - It probably is Mr. R. 's ph
- Page 305 and 306: - 298 - DESPAIR Despair1, though wr
- Page 307 and 308: - 300 - rendering a certain sound t
- Page 309 and 310: - 302 - I have grown much too used
- Page 311 and 312: - 304 - dimensions of artistic crea
- Page 313 and 314: - 306 - when he starts writing his
- Page 315 and 316: - 308 - in its capability of photog
- Page 317 and 318: - 310- next morning, none would bel
- Page 319 and 320: - 312 - To the end, then, he remain
- Page 321: - 314 - tangible double of himself,
- Page 325 and 326: - 318 - ... the ruddy horror of my
- Page 327 and 328: - 320 - only a limited number of su
- Page 329 and 330: - 321 - BENDSINISTER INVITATIONTOAB
- Page 331 and 332: - 323 - the Dark Comedies of the Tw
- Page 333 and 334: - 325 - and that one has first to p
- Page 335 and 336: - 327 - the absurd fate he himself
- Page 337 and 338: - 329 - perhaps in some archaic let
- Page 339 and 340: - 331 - this fantasy with bits of L
- Page 341 and 342: - 333 - in the solution it offers.
- Page 343 and 344: - 335 - no more than the strange an
- Page 345 and 346: - 337 - clown (IB, 104-105). And th
- Page 347 and 348: - 339 - of the original still shine
- Page 349 and 350: - 341 - each of them. There is Mart
- Page 351 and 352: - 343 - "cleared his throat and sof
- Page 353 and 354: - 345 - and then perhaps we shall s
- Page 355 and 356: - 347 - our own world , and with it
- Page 357 and 358: - 349 - the river we see him fishin
- Page 359 and 360: - 351 - inspired by a picture on wh
- Page 361 and 362: - 353 - do not conceal them must di
- Page 363 and 364: - 355 - also the only one who can i
- Page 365 and 366: - 357 - (IB, 26) and only his doubl
- Page 367 and 368: - 359 - Cincinnatus no longer what
- Page 369 and 370: - 361 - He speculates about time in
- Page 371 and 372: - 363 - ADA Ada1 has more than any
-<br />
316<br />
-<br />
this attack of his second self he hever recovers:<br />
I could not quite make out at the time what<br />
was going on in me - but now I know what it<br />
was: my passion <strong>for</strong> my double was surging<br />
anew with a muffled but <strong>for</strong>midable violence<br />
which soon escaped all conctrol (124).<br />
Hermann's peace of mind and secure sense of identity<br />
can only be regained if one of his selves is destroyed.<br />
The murder of Felix, which has on one level a purely<br />
practical function (getting hold of the insurance<br />
money) is to do this <strong>for</strong> him: "... if you think that my<br />
prompter's name was Gain - capital G not C- then you<br />
are mightily mistaken" (100).<br />
But the crime is also to fulfill another function.<br />
Felix is murdered, but he is then dressed in Hermann's<br />
clothes. The murder is made to look like a suicide.<br />
Hermann puts on Felix's clothes and assumes his role.<br />
The purpose of the crime is not only to dispose of one<br />
of Hermann's selves and enable him to re-establish<br />
one identity <strong>for</strong> himself; Hermann also hopes that<br />
the crime will enable him to discard his own old un-<br />
happy self, and to slip into a new and completely<br />
different, and happy identity.<br />
However, he finds that he cannot do either. He can-<br />
not completely resume his old identity: "Try as I may<br />
I do not succeed in getting back into my original en-<br />
velope, let alone making myself com<strong>for</strong>table in my old<br />
self" (29). But he cannot completely discard his old<br />
self either. He is still conscious of it, so much so<br />
that he tries to hide it by growing a beard: "... that<br />
beard of mine has done jolly well, and in such a short<br />
time too! I am disguised so perfectly, as to be in-
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