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Despite the considerable amount of criticism that Vladimir Nabokov's literary legacy has produced since the sixties, the studies on his female characters are scarce, except the ones on Lolita. This volume delves into Nabokov's women from different perspectives and points of view. The contributions are from different parts of the world, some from prominent scholars. These Nabokovians study the gender issue in Nabokov's life and art, paying tribute to his women. The volume has two closely connected parts. In the first one, the reader can find biographical essays that discuss the role of the real women in Nabokov's life and how their love, support and suffering are reflected in his prose. The second part deals with Nabokov's women in his fiction. There is a discussion of the representation of female voices.
List of contents
Contents: Nailya Garipova: Introduction: the gallery of Nabokov's women - Elena Ukhova: «An ideal spouse for a writer»: the reality and myths in Véra Nabokov's life - Alexandra Popoff: Véra's role in Nabokov's life and prose - Frances Peltz Assa: Remorse and Nabokov's women - Priscilla Meyer: Carmencita: Valentina Shulgina. The evolution of Eros in Nabokov's work - Nora Scholz: «Or of the air itself»: Nabokov's «mothers» as bearers of spiritual understanding - Julian W. Connolly: Fetching yet faithless: problematic mistresses in Nabokov's fiction - Alexia Gassin: The Nabokovian society woman: a Kirchner's cocotte? - Sabina Metzger: «A weird place»: Nabokov and the topography of the foreign governess - Akiko Nakata: Narrating her own absence: the narrator and protagonist of A Slice of Life - Svetlana Stefanova Radoulska: Making sense of death: inaccessible women in Nabokov's short stories - Ljuba Tarvi: An invisible harlequin in Nabokov's last novel: «You» in the protagonist's world and afterworld - Juan Ignacio Guijarro González: «Fires of my loins»: female characters in Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin.
About the author
Nailya Garipova teaches an M.A. course on Culture and Literature at the University of Almeria, Spain. She holds a Ph.D. in English, with a thesis on Language and Culture in Vladimir Nabokov¿s Novels. She has published essays and books on Nabokov, contemporary literature and foreign language teaching.
Juan José Torres Núñez teaches English and American literature at the University of Almeria, Spain. He holds a Ph.D. on Theatre Arts. He has written on various authors, including Nabokov, and co-edited the volume Estudios de literatura norteamericana: Nabokov y otros autores contemporáneos. He is the author of bilingual plays, English/Spanish, five poetry collections and a novel.
Report
«This volume, with its diversity of topics and contributors, is highly recommended to both nonspecialists and Nabokov scholars.»
(Luc Beaudoin, The Russian Review 2016)
«[...] Women in Nabokov's Life and Art has undoubtedly opened a golden vein in the field of Nabokov studies and will be valuable to scholars interested in researching this and related topics. Moreover, the clear structure of most of the essays makes the volume suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students alike.
(Irina Marchesini, Slavonic and East European Review Vol. 95, No. 3, 2017)
