The Figure of Nikolai Chernyshevski in Nabokov’s The Gift

La figure de Nikolaï Tchernychevski dans Le Don de Vladimir Nabokov

Sophie Bernard-Léger , Sophie Bernard-Léger (1)

1 EUR'ORBEM - Europe orientale, balkanique et médiane

The Figure of Nikolai Chernyshevski in Nabokov’s The Gift The fourth chapter of Nabokov’s The Gift is a biography of the Russian writer and theoretician of populism Nikolai Chernyshevski. Although Fiodor, the novel’s protagonist, vigorously rejects the famous thinker’s aesthetic credo – namely the idea that art should have a utilitarian function –, he nevertheless decides to launch his career as a writer by penning the satirical portrait of a man who is paradoxically one of the paternal figures of the novel. This article addresses some of the aesthetic and political aspects of Chernychevsky's thought. We also examine how, by focussing on an individual in order to return to the origins of populism, Nabokov throws particularly interesting light on an ideology that was ultimately based on the transcendence of the individual.

Mots clés: Tchernychevski; Nabokov; Russie; populisme; utilitarisme; biographie satirique

Domaines: Littératures

Sophie Bernard-Léger, Sophie Bernard-Léger. La figure de Nikolaï Tchernychevski dans Le Don de Vladimir Nabokov. La Revue russe, 2014, IIe doctoriales de l'Association française des russisants, 42. ⟨hal-01509250⟩