Abstract
AbstractTrue to his aesthetic principles, Nabokov expresses his love for detail in imaginative naming strategies. The conspicuous absence of names as well as the deliberate use of multilingual names constitute an important facet of his short fiction. Nabokov challenges the reader to differentiate between names that evoke stereotypes and names whose etymology assumes significance, between the purposes of supposedly real names and of appellations admittedly invented by a secretive or ironic narrator. Names as aesthetic entities invite scrutiny of their sounds, their printed shapes, their associations with colors, with plants or other phenomena. As the examples will illustrate, the impact of names in Nabokov's stories ranges from comic or tragic effects to intricate patterns of interrelated meanings.
Highlights
True to his aesthetic principles, Nabokov expresses his love for detail in imaginative naming strategies
Critics have commented on names in the Russian-American writer's novels, but his short fiction has not been systematically analyzed in that respect
The following discussion of names in selected stories contributes to filling this gap.! Nabokov's various strategies of excluding or including names challenge the reader to discern minute details as well as complex patterns through which a story becomes an entity worth exploring as an individual aesthetic construct
Summary
True to his aesthetic principles, Nabokov expresses his love for detail in imaginative naming strategies. Nabokov's various strategies of excluding or including names challenge the reader to discern minute details as well as complex patterns through which a story becomes an entity worth exploring as an individual aesthetic construct.
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