|Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
On the poetics of emotions and the world’s tenderness in V. Nabokov’s short story Beneficence [Blagost]
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2023-4-57-69
Abstract
The article analyses and interprets the short story Beneficence [Blagost] (1924), penned by V. Nabokov during his Berlin period of emigration. The author selected the short story for several reasons. Firstly, it appeals as an example of genre transformation of a love story and demonstrates the multidimensionality of the concept of love; secondly, the protagonist arouses interest as an empathetic narrator whose utterances reveal a complex structure; and thirdly, due to the ways in which the meaning of the title correlates with the decoded concept of the world’s tenderness. The writer’s strategy and the poetics of emotions uncover the core meaning of a reminiscence as a cognitive act and transformation of the hero’s consciousness, i. e., his understanding of love and happiness. The protagonist proceeds to discover happiness on a different plane of existence — in the relationship of ‘me and the world,’ in the harmony of the universe, and in the convergence of the micro- and macrocosms. Taking this into account, it appears that Nabokov’s portrayal of tenderness is endowed with a sacred meaning and reaches completion in the formula ‘me for the Other.’
About the Author
M. Ułanek
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
Poland
Poland
Małgorzata Ułanek - PhD in Humanities
5 M. Curie-Skłodowska Sq., Lublin, 20-031
References
1. Adamovich, G. (1938). Russkie Zapiski, 4, Literature. Poslednie Novosti, 21 Apr., p. 3. Available at: http://emigrantika.imli.ru/rusparis/409-pom [Accessed 1 Aug. 2022]. (In Russ.)
2. Adamovich, G. (2002). Solitude and freedom. Ed. by O. Korostelyov. St. Petersburg: Aleteya. (In Russ.)
3. Cymborska-Leboda, M. (2012). Love stories and bodily discourse in the prose of Russian diaspora writers (Z. Gippius, M. Osorgin, G. Gazdanov, I. Bunin). In: L. Suchanek and K. Wroclawski, eds., Z polskich studiow slawistycznych. Literaturoznawstwo. Kulturoznawstwo. Folklorystyka. Seria XII. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, pp. 37-43. (In Russ.)
4. Dahl, V. (1880). The explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language (4 vols). Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Tip. M. O. Volfa. Available at: https://runivers.ru/upload/iblock/b08/Tolkovyi%20slovar%20Dalya%201.pdf [Accessed 8 Aug. 2022]. (In Russ.)
5. Deleuze, G. (2004). Negotiations. 1972-1990. Translated by V. Bystrov. St. Petersburg: Nauka. (In Russ.)
6. Heidegger, M. (1997). Being and time. Translated by V. Bibikhin. Мoscow: Ad Marginem. (In Russ.)
7. Markowski, M. P. (2010). Wrazliwosc, interpretacja, literatura. Teksty Drugie, 1-2, s. 103-123. (In Polish).
8. Markowski, M. P. (2014). Emocje. Haslo encyklopedyczne w trzech czesciach i dwudziestu trzech rozdzialach (nie liczac motta). In: Z. Budrewicz, R. Sendyka and R. Nycz, eds., Pamiec i afekty. Warszawa: Instytut Badan Literackich PAN, s. 345-366. (In Polish).
9. Massumi, B. (2020). The autonomy of affect. Translated by G. Kolomiets. Filosofskiy Zhurnal, 13(3), pp. 110-133. (In Russ.)
10. Myrdzik, B. (2017). O niektorych konsekwencjach zwrotu afektywnego w badaniach kulturowych. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sklodowska. Sectio N. Educatio Nova, 2, s. 115-128. (In Polish).
11. Nabokov, V. (1997). Speak, Memory. Translated by S. Ilyin. In: S. Ilyin and A. Kononov, eds., The collected works of V. Nabokov. The American period (5 vols). Vol. 5. St. Petersburg: Simpozium, pp. 313-594. Available at: http://nabokov-lit.ru/nabokov/proza/pamyat-govori/pamyat-govori-6.htm [Accessed 3 Aug. 2022]. (In Russ.)
12. Nabokov, V. (2011). Lectures on literature. Translated by G. Dashevsky. St. Petersburg: Azbuka. (In Russ.)
13. Nabokov, D. (2013). Foreword. In: A. Babikov, ed., The complete short stories of V. Nabokov. St. Petersburg: Azbuka, pp. 5-11. (In Russ.)
14. Ricoeur, P. (2010). Milosc i sprawiedliwosc. Przel. M. Drwiega. Krakow: UNIVERSITAS. (In Polish).
15. Scheler, M. (1973). Formalism in ethics and non-formal ethics of values. Translated by M. S. Frings and R. L. Funk. Evanston: Northwestern U. P.
16. Shrayer, M. D. (1999). The world of Nabokov’s stories. Austin: University of Texas Press.
17. Shulman, M. (1998). Nabokov the writer: A manifesto. Moscow: Nezavisimaya gazeta. (In Russ.)
18. Tokarczuk, O. (2019). The tender narrator. Translated by S. Gutkina, P. Kozerenko (Yustova) and A. Mirkes-Radzivon. Culture.pl, [online] 10 Dec. Available at: https://culture.pl/ru/article/chutkiy-povestvovatel-fragmenty-no-belevskoy-lekcii-olgi-tokarchuk [Accessed 8 Aug. 2022]. (In Russ.)
19. Ulanek, M. (2019). Poetyka emocji: harmonia dzwiekow i relacja Ja — Ty w opowiadaniu Vladimira Nabokova ‘Dzwieki.’ Acta Polono-Ruthenica, 1, s. 51-61. (In Polish).
20. Ulanek, M. (2021). ‘Czulosc swiata’ w opowiadaniu ‘Благость’ Vladimira Nabokova. In: I. Malej, A. Matusiak and A. Paszkiewicz, eds., Modernizm(y) slowianski(e) w anturazu czulosci. Wroclaw: ATUT, s. 171-180. (In Polish)
21.
Review
For citations:
Ułanek M. On the poetics of emotions and the world’s tenderness in V. Nabokov’s short story Beneficence [Blagost]. Voprosy literatury. 2023;(4):57-69. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2023-4-57-69
Views:
402
Email this article 
