Subject
VN Bibliography: Von Hirsch VN & Bitov
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. The item below is of particular interest to those following
VNrole in contemporary Russianliterarture.
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Marina L. Von Hirsch. LITERATURE AS COMMENTARY IN ANDREI BITOV'S PROSE: THE
NABOKOV LINK. PhD. Dissertation Florida State University. Spring 1997.
Andrei Bitov, born 1937, is perhaps Russia's greatest writer of his
generation. Although loosely linked with the "young prose" movement of the
Sixties, he, then and now, stood alone as a somehow Proustian author,
writing (and rewriting) his complex, introspective prose. In both Russia and
the West he is best known for his novel PUSHKIN HOUSE which was finished in
1971 but first published by Ardis in 1978 in the U.S. It appeared in Russia
only in 1989.
Bitov "discovered" Nabokov in 1970 and that discovery had profound
reverberations in his own work. Marina von Hirsch provides the following
abstract of her study:
"This dissertation is a comparative study which examines the central
role that the discourse of literary commentary plays in the sui generis
prose fiction of the contemporary Russian writer Andrei Bitov, and explores
the affinites and differences of Bitov's literary discourse with that of
Vladimir Nabokov.
The study demonstrates that commentary serves Bitov as the medium for
his philosophical thought, and as a means for exploring new techniques which
are integral both to the structure and the meaning of his metafictional
prose.
This examination of Nabokov's and Bitv's methods of incorporating the
traditionally critical discourse of commentary within the discourse of prose
fiction demonstrates that the major point of contact between Bitov and
Nabokov lies in the symbiosis of art and criticism that occurs in their
fiction and in the ability of their critical writing to include creative and
imaginative elements. Their novels can be defined as fictional
intersections, where the roads of philosophy, criticism, theory, and
imagination merge. However, to achieve this effect, the two writers
implemented different methods and techniques, as this study has also
indicated.
The comparative examination of Bitov's and Nabokov's methods of
incorporating commentary in their fiction has revealed that the two writers
often pursued different goals, thus demonstrating by subjective acts of
individual creation their sui generis conceptions of novelistic vision and
unique outlooks on life and art."
The study consists of four chapters plus an Introduction and
Conclusion. Chapter I discusses "Literary Roots, Historical Background, &
Cultural Milieu." The second -- "Bitov and Nabokov; Nabokov in Bitov."
Three -- "Literature as Commentary versus Commentary as Literature. Four --
"Crossing the Boundaries: Commentary Modes and Subgenres."
I found this work to be most informative in several respects. While
Bitov's early, meandering stories held little appeal for me, I was much
taken with his PUSHKIN HOUSE and planned to write something about its many
intimate connections with Nabokov, especially THE GIFT -- the identity of
theme (Russian literature), the mise en abysme structure, etc. Reading Ellen
Chances and Sven Spieker's recent books on Bitov, I realized how little I
really know about Bitov's oeuvre and my ambition faded. Also, I confess that
I failed to keep up with Bitov's work while Chances and Spieker focused
mostly on the early and middle work.
Marina von Hirsch provides an excellent overview of Bitov's literary
biography including near current work. The greatest strength of study,
however, is its survey of Bitov on VN and VN in Bitov. I also find the
author's general argument that internal (and sometimes external)
[auto-]commentary on their own work is a structural feature that, to a large
extent, unites their approach to literature.
Perhaps the greatest service a work of criticism can perform is to
inspire the reader to read and reread an author. I plan to add all of the
later Bitov to my reading list.
VNrole in contemporary Russianliterarture.
--------------------
Marina L. Von Hirsch. LITERATURE AS COMMENTARY IN ANDREI BITOV'S PROSE: THE
NABOKOV LINK. PhD. Dissertation Florida State University. Spring 1997.
Andrei Bitov, born 1937, is perhaps Russia's greatest writer of his
generation. Although loosely linked with the "young prose" movement of the
Sixties, he, then and now, stood alone as a somehow Proustian author,
writing (and rewriting) his complex, introspective prose. In both Russia and
the West he is best known for his novel PUSHKIN HOUSE which was finished in
1971 but first published by Ardis in 1978 in the U.S. It appeared in Russia
only in 1989.
Bitov "discovered" Nabokov in 1970 and that discovery had profound
reverberations in his own work. Marina von Hirsch provides the following
abstract of her study:
"This dissertation is a comparative study which examines the central
role that the discourse of literary commentary plays in the sui generis
prose fiction of the contemporary Russian writer Andrei Bitov, and explores
the affinites and differences of Bitov's literary discourse with that of
Vladimir Nabokov.
The study demonstrates that commentary serves Bitov as the medium for
his philosophical thought, and as a means for exploring new techniques which
are integral both to the structure and the meaning of his metafictional
prose.
This examination of Nabokov's and Bitv's methods of incorporating the
traditionally critical discourse of commentary within the discourse of prose
fiction demonstrates that the major point of contact between Bitov and
Nabokov lies in the symbiosis of art and criticism that occurs in their
fiction and in the ability of their critical writing to include creative and
imaginative elements. Their novels can be defined as fictional
intersections, where the roads of philosophy, criticism, theory, and
imagination merge. However, to achieve this effect, the two writers
implemented different methods and techniques, as this study has also
indicated.
The comparative examination of Bitov's and Nabokov's methods of
incorporating commentary in their fiction has revealed that the two writers
often pursued different goals, thus demonstrating by subjective acts of
individual creation their sui generis conceptions of novelistic vision and
unique outlooks on life and art."
The study consists of four chapters plus an Introduction and
Conclusion. Chapter I discusses "Literary Roots, Historical Background, &
Cultural Milieu." The second -- "Bitov and Nabokov; Nabokov in Bitov."
Three -- "Literature as Commentary versus Commentary as Literature. Four --
"Crossing the Boundaries: Commentary Modes and Subgenres."
I found this work to be most informative in several respects. While
Bitov's early, meandering stories held little appeal for me, I was much
taken with his PUSHKIN HOUSE and planned to write something about its many
intimate connections with Nabokov, especially THE GIFT -- the identity of
theme (Russian literature), the mise en abysme structure, etc. Reading Ellen
Chances and Sven Spieker's recent books on Bitov, I realized how little I
really know about Bitov's oeuvre and my ambition faded. Also, I confess that
I failed to keep up with Bitov's work while Chances and Spieker focused
mostly on the early and middle work.
Marina von Hirsch provides an excellent overview of Bitov's literary
biography including near current work. The greatest strength of study,
however, is its survey of Bitov on VN and VN in Bitov. I also find the
author's general argument that internal (and sometimes external)
[auto-]commentary on their own work is a structural feature that, to a large
extent, unites their approach to literature.
Perhaps the greatest service a work of criticism can perform is to
inspire the reader to read and reread an author. I plan to add all of the
later Bitov to my reading list.