The concept of the heroic in V. Nabokov’s Glory [Podvig

Abstract

The article offers a new interpretation of the heroic theme in V. Sirin’s novel Glory [ Podvig ] (1932). The protagonist’s ‘deed’ was not only to show personal courage, but also to fulfil the secret and unabated desire of all Russians scattered across the world (including the author) to return to their country. Nabokov’s/Sirin’s realization of the heroic is based on the threedimensional model of existence, characteristic of mystical metaprose, where the reality of the physical world is fertilized by the author’s metaphysical epiphanies and recorded in the reality of the novel’s text. Glory’s uniqueness also stems from the fact that the character’s inner world is three-dimensional too: of all Nabokov’s characters, Martin Edelweiss is the first to gain such an experience in full. As far as the personality traits are concerned, the protagonist is a very close imitation of V. Sirin himself. Although lacking a talent for writing, Martin still shows a budding skill for prose. All in all, the narrative model creates an illusion of the character and the author blending almost completely.