SOURCE: “Nabokov's (Re)visions of Dostoevsky,” in Nabokov and His Fiction: New Perspectives, edited by Julian W. Connolly, Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 141-57.

In the following essay, Connolly examines Nabokov's variations of Dostoevskian themes in his fiction.

A writer's relationship to the literary legacy of the past finds expression in a multitude of forms. Theoretical works by Yury Tynianov, Harold Bloom, and Gérard Genette, among others, have outlined some of the ways in which writers may articulate their attitudes toward the work of their predecessors. Vladimir Nabokov's attitude toward writers of the past was itself multi-faceted. When examining his approach toward the legacy of the past, readers need to distinguish between the declarations he made in interviews and lectures, and the more subtle reminiscences or allusions he incorporated into his literary texts. This is especially true in the case of Nabokov's treatment of Fedor Dostoevsky. While there...