Nabokov and Metapsychology

Authors

  • Beci Carver University College London

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/2281-6658/992

Keywords:

Nabokov, Freud, metapsychology, metafiction, superficiality

Abstract

This essay offers a way of thinking beyond Nabokov's antagonism towards Freud by casting him as a self-ironising Freudian. Rather than just parodying Freud in his work, I argue that Nabokov practices an innately provisional form of psychology widely known in mid-twentieth century America as 'metapsychology.' I understand Nabokov to follow Edward Wilson's example in proposing Freudian analyses non-committally and playfully, while also encouraging him to be more skeptical. Nabokov's own mode of psychoanalytic thinking includes his skepticism about Freud by insisting on its own fictitiousness.

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Author Biography

Beci Carver, University College London

I am a Leverhulme Early Research Fellow at University College London.

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Published

2015-12-24