Narrative Reliability in Selected Works by Bulgakov, Nabokov, and Tertz

摘要

This work examines the use of ambiguous or obfuscating narrative devices in 3works by 20th century Russian authors: A Dead Man’s Memoir, by Mikhail Bulgakov, TheEye by Vladimir Nabokov, and You and I, by Abram Tertz. Bulgakov relies on diabolicalimagery as well as characters that are by and large caricatures of how any decent personwould behave. Nabokov employs several modernist tropes including skillful use ofestrangement, as well as a bland tone towards occurrences that ordinary people would findmiraculous. Tertz plays on the notion of a double identity by psychically linking two polarextremes until they are nearly unable to tell themselves apart from one another, causing oneto crack and kill himself, thus restoring his observer to a more enlightened state. Eachwork uses the idea of narrative ambiguity and unreliability to demonstrate theincommunicability of one’s artistic vision in its purest, platonic form.