Pisarz na wygnaniu: wymiary emigracji w opowiadaniu Vladimira Nabokova Письмо в Россию
A Writer in Exile: Aspects of Emigration in Vladimir Nabokov’s Short Story A LetterThat Never Reached Russia

Summary/Abstract: The starting point of the proposed considerations is Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of genre, according to which genre of an utterance presupposes a particular kind of existence in reality and a special relationship with the recipient. Nabokov’swork A LetterThat Never Reached Russia is a model short story in this respect. Its protago-nist – the author of the eponymous Letter, topicalizes the writer’s situation in exile and takes under consideration both being as well as existential (bytijnyj) aspect of emigration. It is achieved using a twofold strategy. First of all, the hero-writer uses a trick specific to Nabokov himself: he poeticizes Berlin’s space and, with the power of imagination, transforms being (everyday existence), the manner of inhabiting the Earth (Heidegger), emphasizing the role of the spiritual aspect of human existence as a source of happiness. Secondly, choosing the epistolary genre – a form of intimate expression – is also a kind of strategy that allows familiarizing an alien reality and actualizing the “trace” of the past in a solitary everyday life in exile.

• Details
• Contents