V.Nabokovʼs King, Queen, Knave: Love Story from the Life of Mannequins or a Novel about the Mysteries of Writing?

Abstract

This article is devoted to the analysis of the formal content structure V. Nabokov / Sirin’s second novel “King, Queen, Knave” (1928). The “realistic” narration about adultery is here сlosely connected with metaphysical themes and the features of game poetics. The theme of mannequins, dolls and maps is interpreted here in a quite new way. It is shown that, contrary to popular belief, not the figures of mannequins and dolls highlight the images of the characters, their soulless and mechanistic, but, conversely, the novel “King, Queen, Knave” shows how the blanks of literary heroes types, with a wave of the Author’s magic wand, turn into real people. From the stereotypical figures of the triangle husband – wife – lover and the banal plot about adultery, V. Sirin created a fresh and unusual story with non-standard and accurately drawn characters, with a non-trivial structure of the plot and original narrative models. From the sketchy narrative of adultery, the true dominant theme of the novel emerges – the revival of the inanimate, the creation of the “living life” of a literary text. In every episode, in every moment of the narrative, in every plot course, the Author emphasizes his dominant, organizing and creating role. The law of the Author’s willfulness dominates over the eventual field of the novel and forms game poetics of the novel. The elements of the game and the chance reign here and control the logic of the plot development, the atmosphere is created by the card name, the crazy old man-illusionist, various models of sports games (tennis, mountain skiing, sports equipment store, etc.) and children’s (dolls), dressing up and carnival masks, etc. The Author, in the face of chance / or fate, throws trick-mirages (a pistol that turned out to be a lighter, etc.) to the heroes, and then brutally exposes them; organizes driving rain or sends deadly disease. From the game in the play quite naturally emerge two Russians – the “representatives” of the Author in the text.