''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
- 356 - "This is curious", said M'sieur Pierre. "What are these hopes, and who is this saviour? " "Imagination", replied Cincinnatus (IB, 103-104), but it takes him a long time to be really aware of the fact that imagination has indeed saved him. "Everything has duped me", he writes, "all of this theatrical pathetic stuff" (IB, 189), and this is the first indication that he is becoming aware how his salvation can be (in fact, has been) effected. He has seen through the absurdity and irreality of everything around him, and yet he has taken it too seriously. He has allowed himself to be duped by it. He has even "sought salvation within its confines" (IB, 189): he has relied on Emmie to save him; he has for a moment believed in the reality of his mother and her emotions; he has sought Marthe's love; and above all, he has never quite stopped playing a part in the "production" - the part that was expected of him. 37 Because he felt that he was being watched, he suppressed his feelings of rebellion, his attacks of passion and temper. He remained calm outwardly as was right and lawful, and allowed only his double to do what he dared not do openly. It was only his double that crumpled and hurled newspapers: "the double, the gangrel, that accompanies each of us - you, and me, and him over there - doing what we would like to do... but cannot... " (IB, 21). Only his double stepped with his naked sole on Rodion's upturned face
- 357 - (IB, 26) and only his double stamped his feet hysterically in frustration and fury and rebellion, while outwardly he remained calm and obedient and submissive (IB, 35). Now that he has come to realize all this, he can free himself by quite simply refusing to play this part any longer. Also, even though throughout Cincinnatus has not been aware of it, feeling all the time that his words expressed only inadequately what he wanted to say, he has, in what he has written, given substance to his inner reality38, and all of a sudden this truth flashes across his mind: When they come to fetch him for the execution, he is surprised, he is still not prepared for it, even though it is what he has been expecting all along, and he asks to be allowed "to finish writing something" (IB, 194): but ... then he frowned, straining his thoughts and understood that everything had in fact been written already (IB, 194). It is with this thought, too, with this dawning aware- ness that he has created something real and durable, that the disintegration of the mock-reality around him sets in and that he is freed from it. What he has written amounts to a piece of art in which he has given shape and substance to something superior to the dream-and-imitation world around him, and in which he has at the same time destroyed and abolished this same unreal world by exposing it and its absurd- ity. It is thus, that, when he is taken away to the
- 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 and 322: - 314 - tangible double of himself,
- Page 323 and 324: - 316 - this attack of his second s
- 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: - 355 - also the only one who can i
- 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
- Page 373 and 374: - 365 - combine to form the surface
- Page 375 and 376: - 367 - ... a string of stock scene
- Page 377 and 378: - 369 - more confusing by the great
- Page 379 and 380: - 371 - of aspens; they embraced,..
- Page 381 and 382: - 373 - aux caprices de son age. «
- Page 383 and 384: - 375 - pipes into "borborygmic con
- Page 385 and 386: - 377 - Swann et la Lesbie de Catul
- Page 387 and 388: - 379 - in quite a new light and de
- Page 389 and 390: - 381 - of a comic strip cartoon [1
- Page 391 and 392: - 383 - and van's divans and cushio
- Page 393 and 394: - 385 - ernized barracks for misfit
- Page 395 and 396: - 387 - (385). Van himself is calle
- Page 397 and 398: - 38-9 - "Don't forget normal adult
- Page 399 and 400: - 391 - Ada have an equally profoun
- Page 401 and 402: - 393 - her, and telling himself "t
- Page 403 and 404: - 395 - agents from an alien countr
- Page 405 and 406: - 397 -. - cribed by Aristophanes i
- Page 407 and 408: - 399 - stored in their minds, of a
- Page 409 and 410: - 401 - Since nature was traditiona
- Page 411 and 412: - 403 and the Present. Like his cre
- Page 413 and 414: - 405 - way one may wish and try to
-<br />
357<br />
-<br />
(IB, 26) and only his double stamped his feet<br />
hysterically in frustration and fury and rebellion,<br />
while outwardly he remained calm and obedient and<br />
submissive (IB, 35). Now that he has come to realize<br />
all this, he can free himself by quite simply refusing<br />
to play this part any longer.<br />
Also, even though throughout Cincinnatus has not<br />
been aware of it, feeling all the time that his<br />
words expressed only inadequately what he wanted to<br />
say, he has, in what he has written, given substance<br />
to his inner reality38, and all of a sudden this<br />
truth flashes across his mind: When they come to<br />
fetch him <strong>for</strong> the execution, he is surprised, he<br />
is still not prepared <strong>for</strong> it, even though it is what<br />
he has been expecting all along, and he asks to<br />
be allowed "to finish writing something" (IB, 194):<br />
but<br />
...<br />
then he frowned, straining<br />
his thoughts and understood that<br />
everything had in fact been written<br />
already (IB, 194).<br />
It is with this thought, too, with this dawning aware-<br />
ness that he has created something real and durable,<br />
that the disintegration of the mock-reality around<br />
him sets in and that he is freed from it. What he<br />
has written amounts to a piece of art in which he<br />
has given shape and substance to something superior<br />
to the dream-and-imitation world around him, and in<br />
which he has at the same time destroyed and abolished<br />
this same unreal world by exposing it and its absurd-<br />
ity. It is thus, that, when he is taken away to the
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