OlgalizedOtherworld of
Completed in May of 1946, half a dozen years after she and
[he] had adopted each other.
In his
the beating of Krug's loving heart, the torture an
intense tenderness is subjected to &ellipsis;
and further
advises that the book was written and should be read &ellipsis;
for the sake of the pages about David and his father
(165). Daring to go beyond Nabokov's specific instructions on how to
approach for the sake of the pages about David and his [mother],
the beating of [Olga's] loving heart,
the throbbing
presence of which is felt throughout the novel. Mergent with
iridescent potustoronnost&soft;
upon her death, Olga
becomes the otherworld charging it with her special presence,
feminizing, in a real sense, Olgalizing
it.
Throughout the novel the Olgalized
otherworld will
appear to Krug and David in different shapes and forms carefully, but
not unnoticeably disguised, trying to steer [its] favorite[s]
in the best direction, bringing them comfort, warning them of danger
and showing that love survives death.
Olga will communicate
with her son and husband through the medium of senses, painting the
black and white world of Padukgrad into all the colors of the rainbow,
comforting the grieving Krug with a tender kiss of a snowflake and
reaching out to David as a warm touch of a sudden breeze. The world
of eternal caress manifests its presence in the novel through
certain themes, among which are the maternal, the crushed tenderness
connected with the accident, and finally, the beauty of childhood
innocence and fragility of life.
In an attempt to come to terms with the excruciating verisimilitude
of the murder of the eight-year-old David, the paper explores the
symbolism behind Chardin's famous
With references to Nabokov's later novel, redemption from
hellish despair,
and compassion as one of the main passwords
into the writer's world of eternal caress.