PROBLEMATICA IDENTITĂȚII CULTURALE MINORITARE ÎN DARUL DE VLADIMIR NABOKOV

The novel The Gift (1938) by Vladimir Nabokov presents us with the social and cultural realities of Russian emigrants in Germany in the 1930s from the perspective of the main character, Fyodor Konstantinovich Godunov-Cherdyntsev. This paper highlights the effects of migration on the émigré community by means of an imagological analysis. Accordingly, this study will employ a critical framework based on the concept of otherness to explore the manner in which the cultural identity of Russians is shaped by an antagonistic relationship with Germans. The analysis will demonstrate that the self-image of Russians is profoundly influenced by an internalized Other, thereby highlighting the intricate dynamics between identity, cultural affiliation, and the role of the Other in shaping self-perception. In our analysis, we propose three research directions, guided by the following concepts: hetero-images of Germans, self-images of Russians and the personal sensibilities of the subjective narrator.