TY  - UNPB
A1  - Karetnyk, Bryan Serhij
M1  - Doctoral
PB  - UCL (University College London)
UR  - https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142667/
N2  - Ie writers and intellectuals of the first wave of Russian emigration were in a unique
position to respond to the twentieth century?s emergence of totalitarianism. Having
observed from afar their homeland transformed under the aegis of a totalitarian regime,
they were also first-hand witnesses to its proliferation in other guises throughout Europe
and beyond. Moreover, their often-precarious, liminal status as exiles not only made
concerns regarding the spread of totalitarian ideologies an urgent issue with grave
consequences, but also afforded them the unique ability to respond to the phenomenon
intellectually and creatively as individuals on the margins of these totalitarian systems.
Iis thesis examines how Vladimir Nabokov, as one of the foremost writers of the
first wave of Russian emigration, responded intellectually and creatively to the rise of
totalitarian ideologies, how his response compared with those of his peers in emigration,
and assesses to what degree the interplay of responses shaped his aesthetic and ethical
development as a writer. Combining nuanced critical readings of key literary and
publicistic texts, autobiography and memoir, private correspondence and unpublished
archival materials with elements of cultural history and intertextual analysis, this thesis
provides new insights into Nabokov?s writing within a comparative context. Structured in
two parts, the thesis first examines intellectual responses to the rise of totalitarianism,
surveying the range of public and private reaction within the diaspora and assessing the
variety of ways in which the cultural and creative life of the emigration engaged with the
phenomenon. Ie second part explores Nabokov?s own creative response to totalitarianism,
examining first orthodox elements of dictatorship, polity and ideology, before expanding
outwards to consider abstract interpretations in aesthetic, ethical and other dimensions.
Novel in its approach, this thesis offers not only a significant contribution to Nabokov
studies, but also a reorientation of Nabokov and émigré scholarship more broadly.
ID  - discovery10142667
N1  - Unpublished
AV  - none
Y1  - 2022/01/28/
EP  - 247
TI  - Vladimir Nabokov and the Russian Emigration: Intellectual and Creative Responses to the Rise of Totalitarianism
ER  -