This paper offers a close reading of three chapters from Vladimir Nabokov's memoir Speak, Memory alongside two poems by Charles Simic. Chapters Seven through Nine of Nabokov's memoir are examined for their treatment of class privilege, family life, political commentary, and the formative influence of education during the Russian Revolution. The paper then turns to Simic's "Old World," analyzing its meditation on eternity, the human soul, and harmony with nature, before examining "County Fair" for its absurdist imagery and critique of human cruelty. Together, the analyses highlight how both writers use vivid, concrete detail to illuminate larger themes about human experience.
The following analysis examines three chapters from Vladimir Nabokov's memoir Speak, Memory alongside two poems by Charles Simic, exploring how each writer uses concrete imagery and specific detail to develop larger themes about memory, class, eternity, and human nature.
Chapter Seven of Speak, Memory recounts the Nabokov family's train trip from Russia to Biarritz, via Paris. Nabokov describes the upper-class train car with its elegant upholstery and walls, as well as the scenery passing outside the window and the card games his family plays. The setting serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of wealth and social status during the Russian Revolution. He and his brother have their own train compartment, accompanied by their tutor, while his father wears gloves and a special travel hat. This is not a singular journey; Nabokov notes that his family frequently traveled to the French Riviera, underscoring the routine nature of such privileged travel.
Nabokov weaves political commentary into his description of the train ride when he mentions his father's valet, Osip, whom the "pedantic Bolsheviks were to shoot, because he appropriated our bicycles instead of turning them over to the nation" (142). This passing remark carries considerable weight, illustrating the violent consequences of the Revolution for those in the Nabokovs' household. The chapter also includes Nabokov's account of his meeting with Colette, with whom he developed a childhood crush.
Chapter Eight of Speak, Memory focuses on the Nabokov children's tutors, who become like members of the family. As described in the previous chapter, the tutors accompany the family on their journeys, much as the maids accompany his mother. These tutors are graduate students who exert a formative influence on the young Nabokov's intellectual development. Nabokov describes each tutor in detail, noting the distinct impression each one leaves. He has particular difficulty with Lenski, who is humorless and critical of the children's lack of interest, yet this tutor nonetheless makes an indelible impression on the young writer.
Chapter Nine shifts focus to the biography of Nabokov's father, Vladimir Dmitrievich. The biography reveals how Vladimir Dmitrievich was raised in a manner similar to the way he raises his own sons — with many tutors and a strong emphasis on education and ambition. His father was passionate about opera, the arts, and culture broadly, and held notably liberal attitudes for his time and class.
Nabokov's father studied criminal law at St. Petersburg University and subsequently channeled his legal background into political activism. He opposed capital punishment, pogroms, and many tsarist practices. As Nabokov explains, his father's "antidespotic" writings brought him into trouble with the authorities (175). This portrait of the elder Nabokov deepens the memoir's recurring concern with how education, culture, and political conscience are transmitted across generations.
In "Old World," Charles Simic celebrates a moment of contemplating eternity as he gazes upon the ruins of an ancient temple in Sicily. The poem opens with the declaration "I believe in the soul," yet immediately qualifies that belief by noting it "hasn't made much difference." Later, the speaker observes that as dusk fell it was like "eternity eavesdropping on time." Motifs of soul and timelessness permeate the poem, and the imagery of ancient ruins allows Simic to examine the theme of eternity and the potential timelessness of the human soul.
Simic also engages imagery of the Sicilian shepherd way of life, which has remained largely unchanged for centuries. Through this imagery, the speaker discovers how human beings can live in complete harmony with nature, suggesting that such enduring, simple ways of life offer their own form of communion with the eternal.
In "County Fair," Simic creates absurdist imagery drawn from the motifs of county fair freak shows. The star of the show is a six-legged dog, whose keeper treats the animal poorly. The dog sits in a corner most of the time, largely ignored, until the keeper throws a stick. Motivated by instinct, the dog chases after it, its lame extra legs "flapping behind." A drunk woman finds the dog comical and "shrieks with laughter," while the drunk man with her "kept kissing her neck."
"Freak show imagery and critique of human cruelty"
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