Description
Book SynopsisThe Real Life of Sebastian Knight is one of Vladimir Nabokov’s most autobiographical novels and it has often been observed that Sebastian’s passionate affair with the femme fatale Nina Rechnoy is a dramatized extension of Nabokov’s infatuation with Irina Guadanini. In this book it is shown that the novel also conceals another, secluded, love affair Sebastian had with a man, which reflects the main episode in the life of Nabokov’s brother Sergey. By pursuing many biographical and literary references and allusions, and by disregarding the deceptive guiding by the narrator (Sebastian’s half-brother), this moving story about Sebastian’s silent love becomes brightly visible.
Trade Review“This comprehensive analysis offers a very close reading of the text that proves to be particularly revealing in terms of Nabokov’s method. … After giving essential background information on the genesis of the novel, … de Vries illuminates its extraordinary complexity. His insightful comments unveil the scope of the novel’s references and allusions.”— Irina Marchesini, University of Bologna, SEER, Vol. 96, No. 2“Gerard de Vries offers an elegant and persuasive plea for the act of annotation ... [The Real Life of Sebastian Knight] seems to call out for the kind of scholarship and detective work already richly devoted to Lolita and Ada. This is precisely what de Vries provides. After a long chapter of notes on specific textual moments, he presents three chapters of comment on motifs in the novel, centering on questions of narrative, identity, and ‘death and beyond.’”— Michael Wood, Princeton University, The Russian Review vol 76 no. 2, April 2017Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Annotations
- Chapter 3: Motifs: Narrative
- Chapter 4: Motifs: Identities
- Chapter 5: Motifs: Death and Beyond
- Chapter 6: Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
