''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses

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and then perhaps we shall somehow fit
together, you and I, and turn ourselves
in such a way that we form one pattern,
and solve the puzzle: draw a line from
point A to point B... without looking,
or, without lifting the pencil... or in
some other way... we shall connect the
points, draw the line, and you and I
shall form that unique design for which
I yearn (IB, 54).
However, when Marthe comes, he cannot get to her. The
others do not let him come near her. When he breaks
away from them, there are physical obstacles. Most ag-
onizing is the fact that Marthe does not seem to be
aware of him until the very last moment. She talks to
the others, but takes no notice of Cincinnatus. As in
a dream, when one sees someone but has no means of
getting to him, Cincinnatus sees her, and yet communi-
cation is impossible.
This nightmare scene anticipates the outcome of the
slightly less grotesque and nightmarish but just as
depressing last interview he has with Marthe. Both
scenes are perfect renderings, in terms of dreams, of
what has become of their relation. It appears from them
that Cincinnatus' hopes of getting through to Marthe
are illusory. She neither loves him, nor does she
understand him. She flatly refuses even to make the
effort. They live and think on completely different
levels. Communication is impossible because Marthe has
become (or always has been) part of the unreal world
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of the others in which Cincinnatus stands no chance of
being understood or tolerated. Again, then, the super-
ficially comic dream visions carry the most depressing
implications, stressing the fact of Cincinnatus' com-