Modernist mythologism of Vladimir Nabokov’s creative work (based on the material of the novels “Mary”, “The Gift”, “Invitation to a Beheading”)

Abstract

The subject of research in the article is the early prose of Vlaimir Nabokov, the writer of the Russian diaspora, from the point of view of the mythologising of the creative process, which was a characteristic feature of the art of modernism. The study notes that Nabokov builds his texts as artistic mythology, giving art a sacred meaning. Unlike the ontological function of the ancient myth, mythologism in modernist literature is aimed at the aesthetic perception of reality. The writer intentionally mythologises his texts, saturating them with mythological codes, revealed in such writing techniques as intertextuality, allusions, associations, including the work in a wide cultural context. It can be concluded that the mythological codes in Nabokov's modernism act as the literary work of the author who is the Creator of his texts, rather than as a formula for the world order or an explanation of reality. When studying Nabokov's works, one should keep in mind that the writer uses his codes pointwise to create new artistic structures instead of interpreting the traditional myth.