Constructed Reality

The world that Nabokov presents in his novel is full of impossible, dreamlike occurrences. From the beginning of Cincinnatus's imprisonment, the reader understands that there's something not quite right about the world he inhabits. To some extent, the world that Cincinnatus lives in is a reality constructed by him, through his own fears, doubts, and insecurities.

However, another kind of constructed reality is important to Nabokov's novel. Cincinnatus's enemy is the society he inhabits, and the people of that society act according to a set of rules and proprieties that they observe. These rules of interaction that create superficial connections between people are a construction, not of one person, but of a group of people. The ridiculous laws of the culture, which state that the judge must whisper a coded phrase in the convict's ear to sentence him to death, are part of a constructed reality, an...