Authorship in Nabokov's Prefaces

Whereas literary criticism has mainly oscillated between â oethe death of the authorâ (Barthes) and â oethe return of the authorâ (Couturier), this work suggests another perspective on authorship through an analysis of Nabokovâ (TM)s prefaces. It is here argued that the author, being neither dead nor tyrannical, alternates between authoritative apparitions and receding disappearances in the double gesture of mastery without mastery which Derrida calls â ~exappropriationâ (TM), that is, a simultaneous attempt to appropriate oneâ (TM)s work, control it, have it under oneâ (TM)s power and expropriate it, losing control by loosening oneâ (TM)s grip. The intention of this is to approach, through oneâ (TM)s experience of reading and interpreting, the experience of self-effacement and impersonality pertaining to writing (cf. Blanchot). Prefaces are considered to be suitable places for the deconstruction of the classical image of Nabokovâ (TM)s arrogance through the unearthing of his reserve and vulnerability. This work provides an account of the mere intuition (which, therefore, does not pretend to be a conclusive and definitive interpretation) of another image of Nabokov whose undeniable talent for deception seems in accordance with a need for discretion and secrecy.