Nabokov and Metapsychology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13135/2281-6658/992Keywords:
Nabokov, Freud, metapsychology, metafiction, superficialityAbstract
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.Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors keep the copyrights for their work and give the journal the work’s first publication copyright, which is at the same time licensed under a Creative Commons License – Attribution, which in turn allows other parties to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Content Licence
You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to adapt the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
Metadata licence
CoSMo published articles metadata are dedicated to the public domain by waiving all publisher's rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.
You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.