Pretexts of symbolist poets in the work of V. V. Nabokov: dialogic discourse (A. Blok, A. Bely)

The research aims to identify the specific nature of Nabokov’s dialogic connections with the work of Symbolist poets and their role in shaping his artistic world, philosophy, and poetics. The article examines the representation of core motifs and images of Silver Age poetry – the image of Eternal Femininity, the motifs of the dual-world and doppelgängers, basic semiotic antinomies, the role of the artist-demiurge, and a complex system of motifs – which were inherited and transformed within Nabokov’s artistic and aesthetic system. Following Bakhtin’s theory of dialogue, the study analyzes the movement and interaction of motifs that, while revealing profound meanings, simultaneously create a sense of the illusory nature of the real world. This particular technique links Nabokov’s prose with the novels of Andrei Bely. The scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that, for the first time, through a comparison of Nabokov’s “The Gift” and Andrei Bely’s “Petersburg”, it describes and systematizes the range of themes, motifs, and images that form the field of dialogic interaction between various structural elements of the work, reflecting polyphony both within a single text and between the two novels. The study establishes that there are substantial grounds to assert that Andrei Bely exerted a profound influence on Nabokov’s prose. Nabokov valued not only Bely’s language and style but also his metaphysical themes. The multifaceted concept of “cosmic synchronization” clearly resonates with Bely’s act of symbolic cognition. According to both writers, the source of a work of art resides in an otherworldly dimension. The dialogic relationship between the two authors is manifested in their use of Asian motifs and their treatment of the nature of creativity. A significant number of resonances with Andrei Bely are found in the novel “The Gift”: the protagonist, Godunov-Cherdyntsev, refers to Bely’s theories on rhythm in poetry and parodies his rhythmic prose. Both writers emphasize the fundamental connection between the human being and the “beyond”.