Dear All,
I recently completed my dissertation upon multiple levels of perception in
Nabokov's fiction at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. And it was
submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master
of Arts in English Literature.
I thought I would post my introduction to see what everyone thought on the
topic and maybe get some feedback. It was my last piece of work for my
degree and the one which I most enjoyed writing.
Best wishes
James Veitch
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“Reality is an infinite succession of steps, levels of perception,
false
bottoms, and hence unquenchable, unattainable.¹”
(Vladimir Nabokov, Strong
Opinions. p.11).
reality
in: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita, and Pale Fire
In a published transcript from an interview Vladimir Nabokov writes that, "Reality is an infinite succession of levels, levels of perception, of false bottoms, and hence unquenchable, unattainable." A reading of Nabokov’s fiction both inspires and requires the suspension of the reader’s desire to discern from the text a singular definitive ‘meaning.’ Nabokov employs a polyphony of voices, realities, interpretations and hence ‘levels of perception,’ within his fiction that would seem, at first, to implore the reader to discern from them a series of empirical interpretations; voice, metafictional reality, character identity and overall meaning. Yet, an immersion in these ‘levels of perception’ forces the reader into a state of perpetual flux, shifting perspectives and responding to a text flooded with a plurality of voices and interpretations; in order to discern a definitive reality the reader must define them, yet even as the reader tries to do this the boundaries begin to break down and realities, identities and perceptions start to merge, sending the reader reeling through an ‘infinite succession of levels’ and dropping him through numerous ‘false bottoms.’ Nabokov’s fiction thwarts any fixed interpretation; ‘true’ meaning is, like ‘reality,’ ‘unquenchable, unattainable,’ and the clever critic wastes no time on what always proves a fruitless task. A full appreciation of Nabokov’s fiction relies upon a delicate and simultaneous suspension of all these worlds, disallowing one to take precedence over another and allowing for and inspiring multiple (and concurrent) levels of perception in the mind of the reader. Levels of perception co-exist; metafiction exists only in relation to its fiction and thus it is a mistake to deconstruct Nabokov’s meticulously constructed levels into their parts; particularly so as Nabokov anticipates and entirely prevents this (as we shall see) through providing boundaries that shimmer, shake and merge.
Through the induced invocation of many ‘worlds,’ the reader is able to side step succumbing to any fixed interpretation or any ‘true’ reality and is able to restrain treading down the perilous path towards, ‘authorial intention.’ Nabokov, however, does not make the job an easy one. Iris Barry comments that The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is ‘full of barbs and pitfalls,’ and, through analysis of his work, we find these are not limited to Sebastian Knight but are ubiquitous to Nabokov’s fiction. She goes on to comment that the book, ‘deludes the reader consciously,’ and, as we shall see, Nabokov (who once commented that, ‘Art at its greatest is fantastically deceitful and complex.’) developed this theme of delusion and deceit from The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (1941) through Lolita (1955) culminating into his most complex, compelling and trap-laden creation, Pale Fire (1962) which positively teems with ‘barbs and pitfalls.’ By laying traps that ensnare the unsuspecting reader; luring him into a contrived chain of thought, an interpretation that leads, inevitably to a false conclusion: a didactic truism, a ‘moral message,’ an ‘authorial intervention,’ Nabokov both ridicules these traditional modes of interpretation and directs the reader towards the alternative; that of non-didactic and subjective interpretation. The sensitive reader treads carefully and recognises, learns from and forgoes following these meticulously crafted false scents but instead revels in the transcendental plurality of worlds found in the text. This study attempts to examine the ways in which The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita and Pale Fire, fashion multiple worlds and interpretations and allow and encourage them to coexist in a reading. It shall examine how the use of seemingly conflicting realities has been the cause of much critical debate and yet how arguing over the presiding reality of the text is, in a sense, becoming ensnared in the ‘barbs and pitfalls’ which the reader should be wary of.