Nabokov understands the homosexuality, yet disdains it here, as he does in other novels. Rather, Ganin seems more to be drifting toward his ordained life, in some other place than in Mother Russia.Īs usual, Nabokov does make a bit of a negative commentary about homosexuality, although it is somewhat more veiled than his later outright homophobic perspective. If he is sure where he will end up, Nabokov does not let the reader know. The story involves the life during an interim period of Ganin's life who is really at this time, a transient in Berlin. Interestingly, while many characters appear in the story, the text conceptually is primarily an exposition of the inner thoughts of the protagonist Ganin. The signposts of Nabokov are clearly illustrated in his use of irony and surrealism. The manuscript appears to be developmental for Nabokov. It was published and copyrighted posthumously. In this book, Nabokov indicates that this was one of his very first books. The amazing thing is that what these authors wrote about was real. Nabokov, brilliantly creates a ship floating without such ballast. Memory, individual and corporate, is pivotal to understanding ourselves and orienting our lives. Joseph Roth explored the displacement of people from the Austrian Empire between the great wars and here Nabokov adds to Roth's accomplishments. Add to that a totalitarian Russia that attempted to erase and rewite the past and you have a human mirror to an injury now imposed upon an entire society. What distinguishes this great work from later works of popular science fiction or mystery, is that the cahraters live in a place and time where they are unable to return to their homeland, recover and heal fro the war, revolution and displacement that affected countless people. Unable to fill in the blanks in his life, the protagonist takes bits of the present and past and creates a world of memories in an attempt to find himself.

Engrossed in the novel, we then are left wondering what was real or imagined. I can only imagine the sense of loss and displacement that the main character, a military officer who we learn suffered a major head injury during the war. Having suffered a head injury with a period of memory loss I understand the angony and mystery in trying to fill in the gaps of bits of images.

Mary nabokov novel