Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire : a literary arabesque

Abstract

This thesis reads Vladimir Nabokov's (1899-1977) postmodern novel Pale Fire (1962) as a literary arabesque. The arabesque is an Islamic art form which integrates different shapes and elements to produce a symmetrical ornament containing a single continuous line. The arabesque is also an artistic representation of foliage. During the 19th century, the literary arabesque was a style adopted by the Romantic writers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) and Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). Influenced by Gogol, Nabokov adopted the writing style of the arabesque. Hence, this thesis compares Pale Fire to Gogol's literary arabesque, Arabesques (1835). Just as writer's rendered cubism, for example, in modernism, Nabokov incorporated the arabesque's motifs in his postmodern novel. Furthermore, the presence of 'patterns' in Pale Fire have been identified by Nabokov's readers. However, these patterns are very generalised. This thesis specifically identifies the pattern as an arabesque. I therefore define Nabokov's literary arabesque as the figurative incorporation of the arabesque's decorative motifs. These motifs include symmetry, reflection and infinite circulation. For example, "Pale Fire" is a symmetrically structured poem that repetitively circulates back to the beginning.

Date of Award	2018
Original language	English