EXILE AND RUSSIAN INTELLECTUAL RESPONSE: A STUDY OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV’S PNIN

Abstract

Russian first-wave emigre literature portrays the experiences of Russian exiled intellectuals who were opponents of the ideology of Leninized Russia, or the Russia of Bolshevism and Bolsheviks. Numerous thousands of Russian intellectuals were forced to leave as a result of their country’s totalitarian leaders. For these intellectuals, Leninized Russia has become a dangerous place, even a prison. In Pnin, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov shows the lives of first-wave Russian intellectuals in exile and their responses. Through the main character, Professor Pnin, Nabokov tries to illustrate to his readers the path taken by many Russian exiles. He also intends to show how intellectuals in exile like Timofey Pnin wish to be part of a social community and strengthen their sense of belonging in order to overcome loneliness and alienation in the new country. Professor Pnin and other representatives of the first wave’s feeling of toska towards their homeland, pre-Revolutionary Russia, became stronger when they faced difficulties in the United States of America and when they felt inferior among other colleagues. The study reveals that Russian intellectuals in exile like Professor Timofey Pnin may partially compensate their feelings of toska towards their home, pre-Revolutionary Russia, through writing. By doing this, they may motivate themselves to achieve peak experience and transform exile into an enriching experience. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine Vladimir Nabokov's protagonist, Professor Timofey Pnin's exile experience and his response. The paper intends to show that Nabokov, through his main character, displays the fact that, despite the pain of being far from their homeland, for Russian intellectuals like Professor Timofey, the unwitting choice of exile becomes the right decision.