Russian Subtexts in Nabokov's Fiction. Four Essays by P. Tammi (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 331 comprehensive plot summary (pp. 97-101) which does much to make sense of thisstructurallycomplex novel. Since many of Platonov's papers are still in the hands of the security services, Berger-Bugel is unable to make use of primary sources. However, such is her knowledge of secondary sources that this in no way detractsfrom the book. Further hindered by Platonov's own celebrated reticence, she neverthelessmakes cogent and illuminatingcomments on the central themes in Platonov'sphilosophywhich she characterizes(p. 67) as 'Freedom','Truth' and 'Happiness'. Other Platonovian themes such as 'Hunger', 'Suffering', 'Children'and, especially, 'Man's attitudetowardsNature', are given equally thoroughtreatment. The book is, in general, very well produced, with only one majormisprint (p. 6i), which garblesthe dates of Vladimir Solov'ev. Quotations are given in German in the text and in Russian in footnotes. Understandably, the bibliographyof Platonov translationsonly includestranslationsinto German. If this could be expanded, the book deserves to be translated and read by anyone attending the conferences which will no doubt be held to mark the fiftiethanniversaryof Platonov'stragicand untimelydeath in I95'. Department ofEuropean Studies andMlodern Languages D. M. PURSGLOVE UTniversity ofBath Tammi, P. Russian Subtexts inJ'abokov's Fiction. Four Essays.Tampere Studiesin Literatureand Textuality.Tampere UniversityPress,Tampere, Finland, I999. xiii + i87 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. $24.00. THE four essays in this volume, comprising a consolidation of previously published articles dating back to i98I, explore some of Nabokov's most oblique and elusive thematic constructs, deploying the critical principles of theoreticiansKirilTaranovskyand IuriiLotmanto producea cogent, thoughtprovokingstudy . Tammi takesas his centralpremise the notion that 'readers who remain satisfiedwith the discovery of a single source for [Nabokov's] literary games are constantly in danger of being deceived by the author' (p: 37), and thusproceeds to defyNabokov'sdeceptive strategiesin commentarieswhich combine exacting and intricateanalysis,concise organizationand an accessible,almostconversationalmode of presentation. The volume opens with an essaywhich examines the Dostoevskiansubtext in Pr'lashenie na kazn' (Invitationto a Beheading). NMindfulof Nabokov's incomprehensionat the eagernessof reviewersto seekout and identifysources of influence for '"passionate comparison"' (p. 15), Tammi demonstratesthe ways in which Nabokov reworked and redirected particular themes and mnotifs, not merely for the purposes of parody, but more significantlyas a meanis of emphasizing the novel's mysticism. Perhaps most intriguing, however, is the suggestion that Nabokov's deliberate 'activation' of the 'Dostoevskianopus' (p. 32) not only altersinterpretationsof the primarytext, but also the secondary texts which underpin it. Thus, as Tammi argues, the functionof the Nabokovian subtextisdistinctivein thatit servesnot as a mode of inifluence,but ratherof 'reverse'(p. 33) influence. 332 SEER, 79, 2, 2001 In the volume's second essay Tammi explores the consequences of poligenetichnost '(polygenetics), or 'multiple subtexts' contained 'within a single textual unit' (p. 35). These serve two primary purposes; firstly, to generate 'an effect of "cultural synthesis"' (p. 36) and secondly, to establish the principle of concealment and revelation central to Nabokov's artistry. The essay considers a sequence of various manifestations of poligenetichnost', from combinations of compound names, titles and quotations, to the manipulation of'diverse cultural and linguistic spheres' (p. 45) and finally, the deployment of intertextual references in the construction of an entire narrative, exemplified by the 'multiple allusions to [Nabokov's] own texts' (p. 6 i) in Lookat theHarlequins!. This notion of 'metaliterary self-commentary' (p. 2) iS continued in the third essay which traces the St Petersburg theme from Nabokov's early poetry to his autobiographical work and late English fiction. Its appearances in some sixteen short stories and fourteen novels serve a dual role, initially as a 'source of linguistic play' in the form of puns and anagrams, and subsequently as a motif for 'a place ... .] permanently absent from the narrative reality, serving instead as a source for new fictions embedded within the main one' (p. 77). Isolated references to the Nabokov residence on Morskaia Street gradually develop into more complex motifs, appearing in varying mutations. In Lolita, for example, the Nabokov's St Petersburg telephone number, '24-43' (p. 77), is reversed to create the address of the Haze house, 342 Lawn Street, and the word tainik(hiding place) (p. 76) referring to the secret compartment where Nabokov's mother kept her jewels, appears both in...