“Prakh” and “Promakh” (Ashes and Failures). А. Belyi and V. Nabokov: Polygenetics, Parallelism, and Parody Cover Image

Прах и промах. А. Белый и В. Набоков: полигенетизм, параллель, пародия
“Prakh” and “Promakh” (Ashes and Failures). А. Belyi and V. Nabokov: Polygenetics, Parallelism, and Parody

Author(s): Zsuzsa Hetényi
Subject(s): Russian Literature
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: Andrei Bely; Vladimir Nabokov; Despair; The Silver Dove; parody; polygenetic codes; the semiotics of failure; the semiotics of the ending; Dostoevsky; “ideological murder”

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on the endings of two novels by two authors, The Silver Dove by A. Bely (1909) and Despair by V. Nabokov (1934) to reveal how the latter responds to the tradition of Symbolism and its emblematic author-theorist. The influence of A. Bely on V. Nabokov is considered in the paper as a multidimensional phenomenon, not only as following in the footsteps of the accepted heritage or its denial. Rather, it is the student’s attention to the master of the poetic form, giving rise to stylistic parallels, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is the attitude to the literary predecessor being overcome, expressed in complex transformations. The finest genre of the second type of attitude is parody (ambivalent in its nature), parody, concerning here both ideological and philosophical criticism.

  • Issue Year: 66/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 41-51
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Russian