Nabokov's Palace The American Novels

Nabokovâ (TM)s distinguished and unique position in American literature has always been indisputable, but paradoxical. There has always been an element of foreignness in his writing. Nabokovâ (TM)s Palace, however, aims to discover those sub-texts and inter-textual patterns embedded in Nabokovâ (TM)s American novels which undeniably contribute towards making these works an integral part of the Anglo-American literary tradition. Aware of this tradition, in some of his late novels Nabokov also provides a literary historical overview of particular themes, such as friendship, melancholy, madness and trance, as they surfaced in literary texts throughout the history of English and American literature. To Nabokov â oeaesthetic blissâ meant â oea sense of being somehow, somewhere, connected with other states of being where art (curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy) is the norm.â Most of Nabokovâ (TM)s American novels expressâ "through different elaborate literary structures, themes, motifs and metaphorsâ "these â oeother states of beingâ where the â oefantastic recurrenceâ of literary situations and communion with dead poets and writers (Poe, Shakespeare, Hawthorne and Melville, among many others) becomes possible. The American â oerealityâ that some readers miss in his writings (with the exception of Lolita) and the absence of which questions whether Nabokov truly belongs to the Anglo-American tradition, is clearly to be found in the â oewayside murmurâ of the allusive sub-texts. Nabokovâ (TM)s Palace is thus recommended for scholars, students and devotees of Nabokovâ (TM)s fiction who wish to make further discoveries in the distinct â oeotherworldâ of Art in Nabokovâ (TM)s American novels.