The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Vladimir Nabokov
- First Published: 1941
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Biographical fiction
- Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, Twentieth century, Authors or writers, Nineteenth century, Europe or Europeans, Writing, Paris, Brothers, Reality, Truth, London, Biography, Satire
- Locales: Paris, France, London, England, Cambridge, England, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Nabokov's first novel in English, anticipates Pale Fire and Look at the Harlequins! (1974) in being a fictional biography of a brilliant writer who has died recently. As the reader accompanies the narrator, V., on his search for knowledge about the novelist Sebastian Knight, both reader and protagonist learn less and less about their subject, until it becomes apparent that Knight's “real life” is undiscoverable.
Nabokov parodies the formula and apparatus of the detective story. V. rushes about, interviewing people who...
[The entire page is 545 words long]
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