Gift

The novel “The Gift” is Nabokov’s last and, perhaps, most perfect work in Russian. The novel centers on the life of a young Russian émigré Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev in Berlin, his creative path and development as a writer. The coincidence with Nabokov’s own Berlin period, with the beginning of his writing career under the pseudonym Vladimir Sirin, immediately catches the eye. And if in the preface the author warns that he should not be compared with the main character, then a rare reader will resist the game “find ten differences”. Nabokov, as in his other novels, refracts reality, building parallels with his life. Childhood in Russia, warm relations with his mother, the death of his father – all these motifs appear in the novel, only the scenery is changed. The novel also contains many parodies: Soviet critics, decadent émigrés, and writers contemporary to Nabokov come under attack, but all the images are encrypted. Thus, the deliberate refusal to compare reality and fiction in the preface is a secret invitation to look into the depths of the mirror reflections and try to unravel the novel “The Gift”.