Nabokov and the Question of Morality Aesthetics, Metaphysics, and th
The first collection to address the vexing issue of Nabokov’s moral stances, this book argues that he designed his novels and stories as open-ended ethical problems for readers to confront. In a dozen new essays, international Nabokov scholars tackle thos
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Edited by Michael Rodgers and Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Nabokov and the Question of Morality
Michael Rodgers • Susan Elizabeth Sweeney Editors
Nabokov and the Question of Morality Aesthetics, Metaphysics, and the Ethics of Fiction
Editors Michael Rodgers English Studies University of Strathclyde Glasgow, UK
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney English Department College of the Holy Cross Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-59666-6 ISBN 978-1-137-59221-7 DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59221-7
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016944246 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 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, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms 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 specific 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 publisher 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”)
CONTENTS
1
Introduction: Nabokov’s Morality Play Michael Rodgers and Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Part I 2
Responsible Reading
“And So the Password Is—?”: Nabokov and the Ethics of Rereading Tom Whalen
1
19
21
3
Nabokov and Dostoevsky: Good Writer, Bad Reader? Julian Connolly
33
4
The Will to Disempower? Nabokov and His Readers Michael Rodgers
51
Part II
Good and Evil
71
5
Nabokov’s God; God’s Nabokov Samuel Schuman
73
6
By Trial and Terror Gennady Barabtarlo
87 vii
viii
7
CONTENTS
The Aesthetics of Moral Contradiction in Some Early Nabokov Novels David Rampton
Part III
Agency and Altruism
109
127
8
Loving and Giving in Nabokov’s The Gift Jacqueline Hamrit
129
9
Kinbote’s Heroism Laurence Piercy
143
Part IV 10
The Ethics of Representation
Whether Judgments, Sentences, and Executions Satisfy the Moral Sense in Nabokov Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
11
The Art of Morality, or on Lolita Leland de la Dura
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