«Мнимый внук мнимого паралитика». Картофельный эльф Владимира Набокова в компании себе подобных

С. 44–57.

Goroshkova R.

The Potato Elf of Vladimir Nabokov’s story is neither the first, nor the last dwarf in literary history: the dwarfs in the
Medieval epic were, if not the central, then at least the key heroes responsible for the twists and turns of storylines. The striking similarities between two stories Going into Society by Charles Dickens and The Potato Elf by Vladimir Nabokov point out which particular character inspired Nabokov to create the short story about “a little man”. The provided comparative analysis of these two short stories is the first step in studying the influence of Charles Dickens on Vladimir Nabokov’s works and clearly demonstrates that many details of Fred’s life were borrowed by Nabokov from Dickens’s dwarf character Chops. It should be noted, in fairness, that the Dickensian protagonist is not the only literary counterpart of Fred Dobson: they are both accompanied by dwarfs from the works of E.T.A. Hoffmann and Alexander Pushkin.

Keywords: Alexander Pushkin, E.T.A.Hoffmann, Э.Т.А.Гофман, Charles Dickens, Чарльз Диккенс, Владимир Набоков, А. С. Пушкин, Vladimir Nabokov, The Potato Elf, Картофельный Эльф

In book

НАБОКОВ и СОВРЕМЕННИКИ: Историко-литературный альманах

Вып. 1. , СПб.: Симпозиум, 2022.