CRIMEA AS A SACRED SPACE IN THE NOVEL BY V.V. NABOKOV “FEAT”

Abstract

The article analyzes the mythological subtext of V.V. Nabokov’s novel “Feat”. The motives and images of the novel are interpreted using the concepts of M. Eliade. Analyzing the way of life of archaic people, Eliade comes to the conclusion that in their view time was not linear, their minds always kept the memory of the “right time”, the way of contact with which served as religious rituals and festivals. This was necessary in order to get to the very origins of being, at the moment of creation, merging with the Creation into a single whole, throwing off the burden of a life lived. In Nabokov’s novel, the main character Martin Edelweiss in many ways correlates with ancient heroes (the name of the novel “Feat” is also connected with this). Crimea is a space present in ancient mythology under the name of Tauris, visited by Heracles. The choice of Crimea as the place of the hero’s childhood (in contrast to the usual Petersburg for Nabokov) is connected with the mythological subtext – the hero of the novel does not engage in creative or scientific activities, like most of Nabokov’s characters, but realizes himself in the act. Mythopoetic analysis of the novel allows us to see the sacred role assigned to the Crimea in it. Russian literature continues the tradition started by Pushkin and Russian symbolists, and Nabokov embeds Crimea in a single space of Russian literature.