Nabokov’s god; God’s Nabokov

Abstract

This chapter argues that Nabokov’s works invoke not simply an otherworldly but a religious perspective. Schuman points out that Nabokov explicitly compares himself, as an artist who creates worlds, to God. More specifically, Schuman explores the overtly Christian imagery and content of two early stories, “The Word” and “Christmas.” The former revolves around the interpenetration of theological and literary meanings expressed by a divine “word.” The latter-composed soon after Nabokov’s father was killed-imagines a Christmas miracle in which a grieving father finds that one of his dead son’s specimens has hatched: an Attacus atlas moth, its wings developing “to the limits set for them by God.” “Nabokov’s God; God’s Nabokov” concludes that Nabokov evidently found solace in Christianity, at least in his youth.