The Figure of Nikolai Chernyshevski in Nabokov’s The Gift La figure de Nikolaï Tchernychevski dans Le Don de Vladimir Nabokov
Fiche du document
25 juillet 2014
- handle: 10670/1.jnxk6w
- hal: hal-01509250
Sujets proches
Autobiography Legends and stories Autobiography Correspondence, reminiscences, etc Addresses Papers, Collected (Anthologies) Orations Collected papers (Anthologies) Discourses People Man Humanity (Human beings) Human race Mankind Homo sapiens Humankind Humans Addresses Lecturing Speaking Discourses Article Biographies Memoirs Life histories History--Biography Western art (Western countries) Fine arts Iconography Arts, Fine Art, Occidental Arts, Visual Visual arts Occidental art Art, Visual Art, Western (Western countries) ArtsCiter ce document
Sophie Bernard-Léger, « La figure de Nikolaï Tchernychevski dans Le Don de Vladimir Nabokov », HAL-SHS : littérature, ID : 10670/1.jnxk6w
Métriques
Partage / Export
Résumé
The Figure of Nikolai Chernyshevski in Nabokov’s The GiftThe fourth chapter of Nabokov’s The Gift is a biography of the Russian writer and theoretician of populism Nikolai Chernyshevski. Although Fiodor, the novel’s protagonist, vigorously rejects the famous thinker’s aesthetic credo – namely the idea that art should have a utilitarian function –, he nevertheless decides to launch his career as a writer by penning the satirical portrait of a man who is paradoxically one of the paternal figures of the novel.This article addresses some of the aesthetic and political aspects of Chernychevsky's thought. We also examine how, by focussing on an individual in order to return to the origins of populism, Nabokov throws particularly interesting light on an ideology that was ultimately based on the transcendence of the individual.