Lengua y cultura rusa en las novelas de Vladimir Nabokov

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the Russian language and culture in Nabokov¿s novels, taking into consideration all their complexity and variety. The aim is to clarify the cultural difficulties that the non-Slavic readers find in them. The scope of the research includes the Russian novels between 1925 and 1939, their translations into English and the American novels between 1940 and 1977, including his posthumous novel, The Original of Laura). The research assumes that the Russian cultural and linguistic legacy represents the core characteristic in the novels that turns them into heterogeneous texts. Nabokov¿s artistic world is based on the fundamental features of the Russian culture such as Russian history, lifestyle, literature and language. This cultural legacy determines the understanding of the novels, since it requires some knowledge of the Russian language and culture. Our research shows that the Russian culture represented by three correlated elements ¿ the picture of Russia, its language and its literature ¿ is the core of most of Nabokov¿s novels. In the context analysis of these novels, we study the presence of the writer¿s fatherland: Russia. Due to the complexity and variety of its representation, the picture of Russia is divided into three components: the traditional Russia, the Russia reproduced by Nabokov as an immigrant and the Soviet Russia. This analysis shows that the novels have a very complex socio-cultural context, developed throughout the author¿s life. Nabokov¿s Russia is also made up of the native language and the Russian literature: his own patrimony. We study Nabokov¿s style in order to show the Russian language legacy in his novels. The style is characterized by a great variety of literary figures and a high intertextuality. Most of the figures and intertextual references are determined by the Russian language and culture. Thus, they become productive elements of localization. Our research of the Russian novels and their English versions shows that Nabokov¿s style is a product of the linguistic possibilities of Russian. In his American novels, the style is formed from the stylistic features of the Russian prose. The figures we analyze are: puns, neologisms, metaphors, comparisons, phraseological units, symbols, the Russian vocabulary and intertextuality. The last stylistic component of the Nabokov¿s prose represents a high intertextuality with the Russian literature. His novels in both languages are polygenetic texts, since they contain passages that allude simultaneously to different writers and works. In the Russian novels, the intertextual polygenetic references highlight Nabokov¿s connection with the Russian literature. This helps us to include him in the canon of the Russian literary tradition. In the American novels, these references contribute to the creation of the cultural synthesis by intertwining different cultural contexts. In our intertextual study we identify the stylistic peculiarities of the Russian XIX-XX century writers that are reflected in Nabokov¿s novels. From the conceptual point if view, we highlight themes and motifs that Nabokov inherits and develops from the Russian literature. From the intertextual perspective, we analyze such elements as direct references to Russian writers and their works, as wells as quotations and allusions. As we have pointed out, Nabokov uses characters from his literary predecessors to create his own characters. His novels also reflect the Russian writers¿ narrative methods and techniques. The Russian culture, then, is clearly represented with localization elements. The complexity and variety of its presentation, as well as the great number of Russian culturally determined references, show its importance and its significance in Nabokov¿s artistic viewpoint.