MAPS, CHRONOLOGIES, AND IDENTITIES IN THREE NOVELS OF VLADIMIR NABOKOV

The purpose of "Maps, Chronologies, and Identities in Three Novels of Vladimir Nabokov" is to apply to his own novels the techniques of drawing maps and floor plans, and of making chronologies that Nabokov used in his lectures to his students, collected in Lectures on Literature and Lectures on Russian Literature. In addition portions of it are devoted to testing a theory regarding Nabokov's characters, that each set of doubles found in his work may be a manifestation of a single personality, as if one actor were taking two or more parts.; To establish that a tradition of reference to imagined maps and chronologies exists for the modern novel, texts that he expounded in his lectures are considered. There is an aesthetic pleasure in accurately representing in one's mind the "map" of an image that is akin to the pleasure of contemplating a painting.; Outlining the chronology of a novel's action permits the reader accurately to conceive of an alternative reality. For example, Sebastian and V. in The Real Life of Sebastian Knight are demonstrated to have the ability to jump back and forth between the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, as befits their dual Russian and English heritage. The chronology of Pnin's life is proven to be regulated by the chronology of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.; Maps and chronologies permit the determination of facts in the manner of a detective novel, even in the face of a confidence game practised by the narrator. Humbert's criminality proves to be greater than it appears to be on a first reading, while Lolita is blameless, and Humbert's accusations against her are libel. The puzzles of space and time are not frivolous because their solutions are essential to the finding or moral worth and the truth.; The theme of ghosts is important for a consideration of Nabokov's characters. Not even death puts an end to an individual, who may return under another name. Lolita and her friends are shown to be spirits from the other world.