Nabokov and the Question of Morality: Aesthetics, Metaphysics, and the Ethics of Fiction

244 Pages·2016·3.295 MB·English

by  Michael Rodgers, Susan Elizabeth Sweeney (eds.)

Nabokov and the
Question of
Morality
Aesthetics, Metaphysics,
and the Ethics of Fiction
Edited by
Michael Rodgers and
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Nabokov and the Question of Morality

Michael R odgers • Susan Elizabeth S weeney
Editors
Nabokov and the
Question of Morality
Aesthetics, Metaphysics, and the Ethics of Fiction
Editors
Michael Rodgers Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
English Studies English Department
University of Strathclyde College of the Holy Cross
Glasgow, UK Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-59666-6 ISBN 978-1-137-59221-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59221-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016944246
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
Cover image: © Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York
This volume is dedicated to Samuel Schuman (1942–2014),
a friend of Nabokov studies and of Nabokovians:
“you are in that song, you are in that gleam, you are alive”
(Vladimir Nabokov, “Easter”)

C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction: Nabokov’s Morality Play 1
Michael Rodgers and S usan Elizabeth Sweeney
Part I Responsible Reading 19
2 “And So the Password Is—?”: Nabokov and the Ethics
of Rereading 21
Tom Whalen
3 Nabokov and Dostoevsky: Good Writer, Bad Reader? 3 3
Julian Connolly
4 The Will to Disempower? Nabokov and His Readers 5 1
Michael Rodgers
Part II Good and Evil 71
5 Nabokov’s God; God’s Nabokov 7 3
Samuel Schuman
6 By Trial and Terror 87
Gennady Barabtarlo
vii
viii CONTENTS
7 The Aesthetics of Moral Contradiction in Some
Early Nabokov Novels 109
David Rampton
Part III Agency and Altruism 127
8 Loving and Giving in Nabokov’s T he Gift 1 29
Jacqueline Hamrit
9 Kinbote’s Heroism 143
Laurence Piercy
Part IV The Ethics of Representation 159
10 Whether Judgments, Sentences, and Executions
Satisfy the Moral Sense in Nabokov 161
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
11 The Art of Morality, or on L olita 1 83
Leland de la Durantaye
12 “Obnoxious Preoccupation with Sex Organs”:
The Ethics and Aesthetics of Representing Sex 1 97
Elspeth Jajdelska
13 Modern Mimesis 2 13
Michael Wood
Notes on Contributors 2 25
Index 2 29
A T N ’
BBREVIATIONS FOR ITLES OF ABOKOV S
W
ORKS
Ada A da or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
AnLo T he Annotated Lolita
BS Bend Sinister
Def T he Defense
Des Despair
En The Enchanter
Gift T he Gift
Glory G lory
Invitation Invitation to a Beheading
LATH L ook at the Harlequins!
Laugh L aughter in the Dark
LL Lectures on Literature
Lo L olita
LRL L ectures on Russian Literature
LV L etters to Véra
Mary M ary
NB Nabokov’s Butterfl ies
NG Nikolai Gogol
NWL Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya: The Nabokov-Wilson Letters
PF P ale Fire
Pnin P nin
PP Poems and Problems
RLSK T he Real Life of Sebastian Knight
SL Selected Letters, 1940–1977
SM S peak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited
SO Strong Opinions
Stikhi Stikhi
ix