Fictional and documentary aspects of S. Sokolov’s novels “A School for Fools” and “Palisandria”: Nabokov’s literary tradition or typological convergence

Abstract

   The paper studies the interaction of fictional-documentary aspects in two S. Sokolov’s famous novels “A School for Fools“ (1976, 1977) and “Palisandria“ (1985) published in the USA. We analyze the means and methods of narration, which are very characteristic of Nabokov’s poetics: keywords, stable leitmotifs, associative links, marginal images, the combination of various temporal layers and the author’s subjective interpretation of history. Therefore, the study posed and successfully solved the problem of the possible influence exerted by the poetics of Nabokov's novels on the formation of Sokolov as a novelist. In a comparative analysis of the texts, the conclusion is drawn that, despite the similarity of the poetic elements, the first novel by S. Sokolov is a vivid example of multifaceted typological convergence. While working on “Palisandria” in emigration and having already read Nabokov’s work, the writer aimed not only to create a parody novel of his “Lolita”, but also to put an end to the novel as a genre by grotesquely reflecting in it the main values of the Soviet epoch. In terms of genre, “Palisandria” parodically combines specific features of the later Nabokov novels (“Ada” and “Pale Fire”), representing both a family chronicle, a political adventure-detective novel, and a love-erotic story about the adventures of a representative of sexual minorities. It satirically plays out Nabokov’s theme of incest (a parody of “Ada”), widely uses irony, grotesque, hyperbole, multi-layered parodic intertextuality and other features of postmodern poetics.