The Chess Cryptography of Vladimir Nabokov’s Novel “The Real Life of Sеbastian Knight

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https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2024-1-549-561

https://elibrary.ru/PDKUSM

Abstract: Contrary to popular belief, Nabokov's novel “The Real Life of Sebastian Knight” is closely connected to his personal life. The autobiographical subtext of this work is the love affair experienced by the writer with Nina Guadanini. In the novel, this could only be expressed cryptographically, as a kind of hidden message to Nabokov's wife, Vera Slonim. A special role is played by the chess symbolism of the novel, the meaning of which Nabokov himself denied. However, it is not always and not in everything that writers should be trusted. In it — as well as in the novel as a whole, many specific circumstances of his personal life turned out to be obscured and radically transformed.

Keywords: Nabokov, novel, “The Real Life of Sebastian Knight”, cryptopoetics, the chess symbolism, cryptonym, autobiographism

Information about the author: Sergey A. Kibalnik, DSc in Philology, Leading Researcher, Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Makarov emb. 4, 199034 Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-5937-5339

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For citation: Kibalnik S.А. The Chess Cryptography of Vladimir Nabokov’s Novel 'The Real Life of Sеbastian Knight'.” Emigrantica. Issue 1: In memory of Oleg Korostelev, ed.-comp. E.R. Ponomarev, sci. ed. E.R. Ponomarev, M. Schruba, ed. M.S. Shchavlinskii, D.V. Zaitsev. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, pp. 549–561. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2024-1-549-561

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Received: December 26, 2021
Approved after reviewing: August 12, 2022
Date of publication: October 07, 2024

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