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

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Ada have an equally profound knowledge of and critical
insight into works of art, both paintings and
works of literature, and their interests extend beyond
the "normal" aspects of life to its aberrations and
more unusual and abstruse sides.
But all this can hardly be taken as indicative of
a "disturbance" and a desire to "grasp all of creation
to themselves", nor, on the other hand, as simply an
expression of their delight in "the particulars of
this
world"
[which they] "observe and recall... with
tender meticulous care. "44 For Nabokov, precise
science and art are the two means by which reality
can be at least approached, and in some of the foregoing
chapters art has been seen to be even superior
to science in that the artistic mind can see parallels
and relations and patterns which remain invisible
to other minds. It is in this connection that
Ada's and Van's interests can be seen. Their curiosity
about all the phenomena of life and their scientific
and artistic ways of approaching them are for them
the means in an attempt to get through to, and understand,
at least part of creation and reality; to experience
something lasting and "real" behind all the
"ghost things" and "fogs" which have been seen to
dominate the world, causing unhappiness, despair and
madness in others and making the world h@11 to live in.
According to Van, however, it is their love which
grants them the profoundest experiences and liberates
them from the horrors of their world. It also allows
them to escape from the hell around them and to expe-