New Worlds of Words: Vladimir Nabokov's Fairy Tales

Abstract

<p>It was Vladimir Nabokov's contention that all fictional works are fantastic in nature, and that any novel can be considered a type of fairy tale. Emphasizing that aspect of his own fiction are the numerous allusions to tales such as "Cinderella" and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that appear in his texts. Nabokov's novels portray characters who transform their lives into illusory fantasies. Ultimately, characters like Humbert Humbert, Van, and Kinbote are themselves artist-figures, who turn reality into fantasy through the process of writing.</p>