Where Masha wrote her novel on Nabokov. Reminiscence in the novel (by the example of Ganin)
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Krasnodar 2003
Thousands of pages have been written about Nabokov: hundreds of literary tailors tried to cut the thin sliding Nabokov fabric according to their patterns. He is a prominent Russian and American prose writer, poet, translator and literary scholar and entomologist, better known for his works of other genres; one of the classics of Russian émigré and American literature of the 20th century, a rare case of a bilingual writer who wrote equally brilliantly both in Russian and in English.
For Russia, the fate of Nabokov can be compared to a rare butterfly that accidentally fell into the hands of the darling Destiny: it was caught and dried between the pages of a thick encyclopedia. And only many years later we were lucky to stumble upon this amazing specimen, which simply has no analogues.
And so we consider, compare, study. And we catch ourselves thinking that too much time has passed. We have lost the skills to handle such butterflies. We have a poor understanding of their structure. And, besides, not everyone wants to figure it out, it is much easier to turn away, forget that nothing like this has ever happened. But the passion of the discoverer intoxicates true lovers and makes them plunge deeper and deeper into the writer's work. It is no longer enough for us to just see, we want to understand. But then we come across a transparent wall, which Nabokov surrounded himself with. He kind of plays with us, waves to us from there, encouraging us, but still remains elusive. And we begin to wonder how it was possible to catch such a butterfly at all. But "let the critics disagree, - the artist remains true to himself."
"A writer (by definition of Nabokov himself) is a person who worries over trifles." Obviously, therefore, he did not want to express in his books anyone's political convictions and reflect "the current moment of public life." Only once, in 1939, together with other prominent people (Bunin, Berdyaev, Rachmaninov and others), he signed a protest against the invasion of Soviet troops into Finland. Later, about his attitude to politics, Nabokov said: “My political views remain strict and unchanged, like an old gray rock. They are classically, almost to the point of banality. Freedom of speech, freedom of art. The social or economic structure of an ideal state interests me little. My desires are very modest. Portraits of the head of state should not exceed a postage stamp. No torture, no executions. " It can be considered that Nabokov finally went over to the side of Art. Real Art reflects, in Nabokov's work, not life, but the assaults of life on art.
Nabokov never concealed that he wrote only for himself; only to get rid of the idea of the novel, he transferred it to paper. The writer did not even have thoughts to explain something, to teach someone, and, moreover, to denounce someone. With all his work, Nabokov seemed to say that "in essence, Art is a mirror reflecting the one who looks into it, and not life at all."
After writing Lolita, Nabokov had to endure a stormy stream of attacks and accusations of promiscuity of the plot. He was also accused of creating an opportunistic and low-quality work for the sake of ensuring material well-being. But time has confirmed the truth: “There are no moral or immoral books. There are books that are well written or poorly written. That's all". In the chorus of ill-wishers, there were also those who claimed that Nabokov had previously denigrated Russia, and with the release of Lolita, also denigrated America. These people could be advised to re-read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (Do not attribute unhealthy tendencies to the artist: he is allowed to portray everything). But Nabokov himself delivered a clearer and more striking attack: "The art of a writer is his passport."
Let's go back to the butterfly with which we started. Under the rays of the sun and our burning eyes, Nabokov's butterfly suddenly comes to life right in his hands. Wings fluttered, antennae quivered, and now she is above us. Now we can all see Nabokov, read his books, plays, poetry. And no one else dares to hide it from us (except ourselves). No one can dry and hide it anymore. And, God forbid, that his books become our constant and faithful companions.
V Russian literature of the XX century V.V.Nabokov occupies a special place for a number of reasons. First, his biography as a writer covers almost all chronological stages of 20th century literature up to the 70s. Secondly, Nabokov's work is involved in the history of two national cultures at once - Russian and American; moreover, both Russian-language and English-language works of the writer are outstanding works of art, genuine literary masterpieces. Thirdly, Vladimir Nabokov did more than any of his contemporaries to acquaint the Western readership with the heights of the Russian literary classics.
Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich was born on April 10 (22), 1899, died on July 2, 1977, in Lausanne. Was from an old noble family. His paternal grandfather was the Minister of Justice under Alexander III. Father is a lawyer, one of the leaders (together with P. Milyukov) of the Constitutional Democratic Party, a member of the State Duma. The paternal grandmother came from the ancient German family of von Korf. Mother from an Old Believer family of the Siberian gold miner and millionaire V. Rukavishnikov. From childhood, Nabokov was brought up in an atmosphere of the cult of his English, learned to read before in English than in Russian, his home name was Anglicized - Lodi. Vladimir Nabokov receives a good education at home. Under the influence of his father, an athlete, he is passionate about chess, tennis, and boxing. In 1911 he entered the Tenishevsky school, where he amazes everyone with his talent. Already at this time, self-confidence is manifested in Nabokov's character.
A huge role in his future work will be played by the store of impressions accumulated in childhood and adolescence associated with the St. Petersburg family life, and especially with the summer seasons that the Nabokov family spent on country estates.
Creatively defined primarily as a poet. One of the first published poems, Lunar Dream, contains the beginnings of essential motifs of Nabokov's poetry and prose - the image of a “pretty girl over a pink pillow” and the theme of a double world. In 1916, the first poetry collection "Poems" was published, dedicated to the poet's first love. During this period, he looks like a happy young man.
After the October coup in November 1917, the Nabokov family fled to the Crimea, where Vladimir met M. Voloshin. In 1919, he was preparing to join Denikin's army, but did not have time - the Nabokov family went to Turkey, from where, through Greece and France, to England. The theme of flight also becomes one of the "key themes" of Nabokov's poetry and prose. In England in 1919 he entered the University of Cambridge, where he studied French and Russian literature. The dramatic twist of fate gives a powerful impetus to Nabokov's lyrical work: he never wrote so many poetry as in those first years of forced emigration. The most clearly manifested in them is the orientation towards the creative principles of such dissimilar poets as A. Blok and I. Bunin.
Then Nabokov moved to Berlin, where he provided his existence by translating newspapers, composing chess problems, tennis lessons, French and English, as well as publishing stories and small plays.
In March 1922, the writer's father was killed by right-wing extremists in Berlin. The death of his father shocked Nabokov and determined his fate: from now on, he could rely only on his own strength. During these years, under a pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin" in émigré periodicals, a large number of stories, poems, plays, translations, critical articles and reviews appear. Nabokov's Russian novels Mashenka (1926), The Defense of Luzhin (1929), Despair (1934), Invitation to Execution (1936), The Gift (1938) ) and others. In 1923, two collections of his poems were published in Berlin - "The High Way" and "The Bunch". In the same period, a number of plays were published and acquaintance with some famous writers began.
As a poet, Nabokov is characterized by "an extraordinary vigilance of a glance, an unusual angle, attention to detail, as well as exceptional fidelity to the images, thoughts, metaphors once found, which create" amazing mirages "in their transition from book to book. Focusing mainly on the classical traditions of Russian verse, Nabokov's poetry is predominantly narrative and pictorial in nature of the "poetic" inventory "of the world."
As a prose writer, Nabokov begins with stories that are, as it were, the “larvae” of his future “butterfly novels,” and the latter is part of a single Nabokovian metaromaniac. The first such part is the novel Mashenka, which is completely autobiographical in the portrayal of the main character - a young Russian emigrant Ganin, who decisively breaks with his pre-emigrant past, ready to resurrect for him in the form of his first love arriving in Berlin. The end of the 1920s was marked by the novel "The Defense of Luzhin" (1929), the story "The Spy" (1930) and the novel "Feat" (1932).
In 1926, Nabokov's first prose work, the novel Mashenka, was published. On this occasion, the magazine "Niva" wrote: "Nabokov, himself and his fate in different variations, having fun, tirelessly embroiders on the canvas of his works. But not only his own, although hardly anyone interested Nabokov more than himself. It is also the fate of a whole human type - the Russian intellectual-emigrant. " Indeed, for Nabokov, life in a foreign land was still quite difficult. The past became a consolation, in which there were bright feelings, love, a completely different world. Therefore, the novel is based on memories. There is no plot as such, the content unfolds like a stream of consciousness: the dialogues of the characters, the internal monologues of the protagonist, descriptions of the scene are interspersed.
The main character of the novel, Lev Glebovich Ganin, having found himself in exile, has lost some of the most important personality traits. He lives in a boarding house, which he does not need and is not interesting, its inhabitants seem pathetic to Ganin, and he himself, like other emigrants, is not needed by anyone. Ganin yearns, sometimes he cannot decide what to do: "whether to change the position of the body, whether to get up to go and wash his hands, whether to open the window ...". "Twilight obsession" - this is the definition that the author gives to the state of his hero. Although the novel belongs to the early period of Nabokov's work and is perhaps the most "classic" of all the works he created, the writer’s play with the reader is present here as well. It is unclear what is the root cause: whether emotional experiences deform the external world, or, on the contrary, ugly reality deadens the soul. There is a feeling that the writer has put two crooked mirrors in front of each other, the images in which are refracted ugly, doubling and tripling.
The novel "Mashenka" is built as a memory of the hero of his former life in Russia, cut short by the revolution and the Civil War; the narration is from a third person. There was one important event in Ganin's life before emigration - his love for Mashenka, who remained at home and was lost with her. But quite unexpectedly, Ganin recognizes in the woman depicted in the photograph, the wife of a neighbor in the Berlin boarding house, Alferov, his Mashenka. She must come to Berlin, and this expected arrival brings the hero to life. Ganin's heavy melancholy passes, his soul is filled with memories of the past: a room in a Petersburg house, a country estate, three poplars, a barn with a painted window, even the flickering of the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Ganin again seems to be immersed in the world of Russia, preserving the poetry of "noble nests" and the warmth of family relations. Many events happened, and the author selects the most significant ones. Ganin perceives the image of Mashenka as "a sign, a call, a question thrown into the sky," and to this question he suddenly receives a "semi-precious, delightful answer." Meeting Mashenka should be a miracle, a return to the world in which Ganin could only be happy. Having done everything to prevent his neighbor from meeting his wife, Ganin ends up at the station. At the moment of the stop of the train on which she arrived, he feels that this meeting is impossible. And he leaves for another station to leave the city.
It would seem that the novel assumes the situation of a love triangle, and the development of the plot pushes for this. But Nabokov rejects the traditional ending. The deep feelings of Ganin are much more important for him than the nuances of the heroes' relationships. Ganin's refusal to meet with his beloved has not a psychological, but rather a philosophical motivation. He understands that the meeting is unnecessary, even impossible, not because it entails inevitable psychological problems, but because time cannot be turned back. This could lead to submission to the past and, consequently, the abandonment of oneself, which is generally impossible for Nabokov's heroes.
In the novel Mashenka, Nabokov for the first time turns to themes that will then appear repeatedly in his work. This is the theme of the lost Russia, serving as an image of the lost paradise and the happiness of youth, the theme of remembrance, at the same time opposing the all-destroying time and failing in this futile struggle.
The image of the main character, Ganin, is very typical of V. Nabokov's work. In his works, unsettled, "lost" emigrants appear all the time. The dusty boarding house is unpleasant for Ganin, because it will never replace his homeland. Those living in the boarding house - Ganin, the teacher of mathematics Alferov, the old Russian poet Podtyagin, Klara, the funny dancers - are united by their uselessness, some kind of disconnection from life. The question arises: why do they live? Ganin acts in films selling his shadow. Is it worth living to “get up and go to the print shop every morning,” as Clara does? Or “to look for an engagement,” as dancers are looking for? To humiliate himself, beg for a visa, explaining himself in bad German, how is Podtyagin forced to do this? None of them have a purpose that would justify this miserable existence. All of them do not think about the future, do not strive to get settled, to improve their lives, living on this day. Both the past and the prospective future remained in Russia. But to admit it to yourself is to tell yourself the truth about yourself. After that, you need to draw some conclusions, but then how to live, how to fill boring days? And life is filled with petty passions, romances, vanity. “Podtyagin went into the room of the hostess of the boarding house, stroking a black affectionate dachshund, pinching her ears, a wart on a gray muzzle and talking about his old man's painful illness and that he had been busy for a long time about a visa to Paris, where pins and red wine were very cheap ".
Ganin's connection with Lyudmila does not leave the feeling for a second that we are talking about love. But this is not love: "And longing and ashamed, he felt like a senseless tenderness - a sad warmth that remained where love had slipped very fleetingly, - makes him cuddle without passion for the purple rubber of her yielding lips ..." Did Ganin have true love? When he met Mashenka as a boy, he fell in love not with her, but with his dream, the ideal of a woman invented by him. Mashenka turned out to be unworthy of him. He loved silence, solitude, beauty, he was looking for harmony. She was frivolous, pulling him into the crowd. And "he felt that from these meetings true love diminishes." In Nabokov's world, happy love is impossible. It is either associated with treason, or the heroes do not know at all what love is. Individualistic pathos, fear of submission to another person, fear of the possibility of his judgment make Nabokov's heroes forget about her. Often, the plot of the writer's works is based on a love triangle. But the intensity of passions, nobility of feelings in his works cannot be found, the story looks vulgar and boring.
The novel "Mashenka" is characterized by features that also manifested themselves in the further work of Nabokov. This is a play with literary quotes and the construction of the text on the elusive and re-emerging leitmotifs and images. Here sounds become independent and meaningful (from nightingale singing, meaning the natural beginning and the past, to the noise of a train and tram, personifying the world of technology and the present), smells, repetitive images - trains, trams, light, shadows, comparisons of heroes with birds. Nabokov, speaking about the meetings and partings of the heroes, undoubtedly hinted to the reader about the plot of Eugene Onegin. Also, the attentive reader can find in the novel images typical for the lyrics of A.A. Feta (nightingale and rose), A.A. Blok (dating in a blizzard, the heroine in the snow). At the same time, the heroine, whose name is included in the title of the novel, has never appeared on its pages, and the reality of her existence sometimes seems doubtful. The game with illusions and reminiscences is constantly being played.
Nabokov actively uses techniques traditional for Russian literature. The author turns to the methods of detailing inherent in Chekhov, saturates the world with smells and colors, like Bunin. This is primarily due to the ghostly image of the main character. Contemporary Nabokov's critics called "Mashenka" a "narcissistic novel", they assumed that the author constantly "self-reflects" in his heroes, placing at the center of the narrative a personality endowed with remarkable intelligence and capable of strong passion. There is no character development, the plot turns into a stream of consciousness. Many contemporaries did not accept the novel, since it did not have a dynamically developing plot and a happy resolution of the conflict. Nabokov wrote about that “furnished” emigration space in which from now on he and his heroes were to live. Russia remained in memories and dreams, and this reality had to be reckoned with.
“... Remembering the previous years of the novels,
Remembering the old love ... "A.S. Pushkin
German boarding house for Russian emigrants. 6 rooms numbered from the old tear-off calendar - early April. Each of the tenants once lived in the Russian expanses, and now they have to squeeze themselves here, amid loneliness, memories and hopes. Even the old building seems to yearn for a place where it has never been. “You can't even imagine how much a person needs to suffer to get the right to leave here,” the words of the old Russian poet Podtyagin reflect the entire grave condition of the “prisoners”. Through a whole century, you feel how gray, poverty and meaninglessness fit on the pages. “Well, it’s never so dreary!” You think. Indeed, the next page is filled with soft and warm light - the main character unexpectedly recognizes in a photograph given by a neighbor, his first love - Mashenka. A sweet girl is the wife of the unloved Alferov and arrives in a few days. Like a lifeline, this news overwhelms Ganin and plunges him into sweet dreams. Despite the fact that he is already in a relationship with Lyudmila - also unloved - the young man is building in his head their cloudless joint future with Masha. "He did not know what kind of push from the outside should occur to give him the strength to break the three-month relationship with Lyudmila, just as he did not know what exactly should happen so that he could get up from the chair." - there was not just a push, but a blow of such force that Ganin was able to leave not only Lyudmila, but his entire past life. The fatalist inside a faded, exhausted man believed that fate had given them a chance. Four days before her arrival, he did not find a place for himself, looked forward to their meeting and lived only with memories. But everything is not so simple - Mashenka appeared in his head not in beautiful solitude, but together with her native Russia. Being a happy ghost of the past, she was no longer a beloved girl, but a beloved Motherland, which Ganin had irrevocably lost. Four days was enough for the main character to cool the flared feelings that arose among the hopeless emptiness and shook him, and looked at the situation with a sober look. An hour and a half before Masha's arrival, he changes his mind, realizing that he loves only an image, a memory. Mashenka and Russia have changed in the same way, and let them better remain happiness in the past than disappointment in the present. Ganin goes to another station and leaves Berlin for good.
V.V. Nabokov is famous for the fact that he began his work without guile, reflecting his personal feelings and experiences. Precision and brightness of details enslaves and attracts the eye. Each object has feelings, as do the characters, which, being both the main and the secondary ones, go through the most serious ups and downs. "Mashenka" was just the beginning of a journey born of problems, obstacles and longing. But this is precisely what predisposed the talented author to a successful literary future.
Interesting? Keep it on your wall!The first novel by V.V. Nabokov; written in the Berlin period in 1926 in Russian. This work is exceptional and extraordinary. He is different from all the novels and plays written by him.
If we briefly talk about the theme of the novel, then this is a story about an unusual person who is in exile, in whom the interest in life is already beginning to fade away. And only having accidentally met the love of his youth, he tries to be reborn, to return his bright past, to return the youth, during which he was so happy.
The book is about the "strangeness of recollection", about the whimsical interweaving of life patterns of the past and the present, about the "delightful event" of the resurrection by the main character - the Russian emigrant Lev Ganin living in Berlin - the story of his first love. The novel, which spans only six days and in which there are very few characters, gains emotional penetration and semantic depth thanks to the passionate power of Ganin's (and author's) memory, faithful to the irrational moments of the past.
In his novel, Nabokov philosophically reflects on his love for women and for Russia. These two loves merge into one whole for him, and separation from Russia causes him no less pain than separation from his beloved. “For me, the concepts of love and homeland are equivalent,” wrote Nabokov in exile. His heroes yearn for Russia, not counting Alferov, who calls Russia "damned", says that she "got the cover." (“It’s time for all of us to openly declare that Russia is kaput, that the“ god-bearer ”turned out, as one might have guessed, a gray bastard, that our homeland, therefore, perished.") However, the rest of the heroes passionately love their homeland, believe in revival. ("... Russia must be loved. Without our emigre love, Russia is a cap. Nobody loves her there. Do you love? I am very much.")
Mashenka and her husband appear later in Nabokov's novel Luzhin's Defense (Chapter 13).
In 1991, a film of the same name was filmed based on the book.
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"Mashenka"- the first novel by V.V. Nabokov; written in the Berlin period in Russian.
The book exhibits themes most developed in Dar: the Russian émigré environment in Berlin.
Plot
The main character Ganin lives in a Russian boarding house in Berlin. One of the neighbors, Alferov, constantly talks about the arrival of his wife Mashenka from Soviet Russia at the end of the week. From the photo, Ganin recognizes his old love and decides to snatch her from the station. Ganin lives with memories all week. On the eve of Mashenka's arrival in Berlin, Ganin gives Alferov a drink and sets his alarm clock incorrectly. At the last moment, however, Ganin decides that the previous image cannot be returned and goes to another station, leaving Berlin forever. Mashenka herself appears in the book only in Ganin's memoirs.
Mashenka and her husband appear later in Nabokov's novel Luzhin's Defense (Chapter 13).
Screen adaptation
In 1987, a film of the same name was filmed in the UK based on the book. Director - John Goldschmidt... Cast: Mashenka - Irina Brook, Ganin - Cary Elwes, Lily - Sunny Meles, Podtyagin - Freddie Jones, father - Michael Gough, Colin - Jean-Claude Briali.
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An excerpt characterizing Mashenka (novel)
- Oh, what a beautiful name! And good ...Maria began to come to life little by little, and when we invited her to meet a new friend, she, although not very confident, nevertheless agreed. The already familiar cave appeared in front of us, and golden and warm sunlight poured from it.
- Oh, look! .. This is the sun?! .. It is absolutely like the real thing! .. And how did it get here? - dumbfounded stared at such an unusual beauty for this terrible place, baby.
- It is real, - Stella smiled. - We only created it. Go see!
Maria timidly slipped into the cave, and immediately, as we expected, an enthusiastic squeal was heard ...
She jumped out completely stunned and from surprise still could not connect two words, although it was clear from her eyes wide open with full delight that there was definitely something to say to her ... Stella affectionately hugged the girl by the shoulders and returned her back to the cave. .. which, to our great surprise, turned out to be empty ...
- Well, where is my new friend? - Maria asked upset. “Weren't you hoping to find him here?
Stella could not understand in any way what could have happened that would have forced the Luminary to leave its "sunny" abode? ..
- Maybe something happened? - I asked a completely stupid question.
- Well, of course - it happened! Otherwise, he would never have left here.
- Maybe that evil person was here too? Maria asked fearfully.
To be honest, I also had such an idea, but I did not have time to express it for the simple reason that, leading three kids, a Luminary appeared ... The kids were mortally frightened by something and, shaking like autumn leaves, huddled fearfully to the Luminary, afraid to move away from him even a step. But childish curiosity soon overpowered fear, and, peering out from behind the broad back of their protector, they looked in surprise at our unusual three ... As for us, we, forgetting to even say hello, probably stared at the kids with even greater curiosity, trying to figure out where they could have come from in the "lower astral", and what all the same happened here ...