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The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is one of Vladimir Nabokov’s most autobiographical novels and it has often been observed that Sebastian’s passionate affair with the femme fatale Nina Rechnoy is a dramatized extension of Nabokov’s infatuation with Irina Guadanini. In this book it is shown that the novel also conceals another, secluded, love affair Sebastian had with a man, which reflects the main episode in the life of Nabokov’s brother Sergey. By pursuing many biographical and literary references and allusions, and by disregarding the deceptive guiding by the narrator (Sebastian’s half-brother), this moving story about Sebastian’s silent love becomes brightly visible.
Price: $27.00
Pages: 232
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Imprint: Academic Studies Press
Publication Date:
30 May 2018
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9781618118332
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
“Gerard de Vries’ Silent Love, a new study of Vladimir Nabokov’s The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, offers a stimulating analysis of Nabokov’s first novel written in English. This study makes two significant contributions to the existing body of criticism devoted to the novel. First, he has provided a detailed set of annotations that illuminate a broad range of literary, historical, and cultural allusions. Second, he provides a new theory for understanding the enigmatic conduct of the title character, the writer Sebastian Knight. This book will prove useful for any reader and student of Nabokov’s work.”
Gerard de Vries’ first paper appeared in Russian Literature Triquarterly in 1991 and he has written since many articles on Nabokov’s works, which were published in American, French and Russian academic journals. With D. Barton Johnson he wrote Nabokov and the Art of Painting (2006).
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Annotations
Chapter 3: Motifs: Narrative
Chapter 4: Motifs: Identities
Chapter 5: Motifs: Death and Beyond
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Works Cited
Index