“A Russian beauty” is a story by Russian American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. This literary work was written much before his famous literary creations like “Lolita”. It gives readers a glimpse of Nabokov’s early life when he used to struggle in the area of writing. The story lets readers peep into contemporary society and mindset of people. This paper intends to discuss the story along with presenting a textual analysis of “A Russian Beauty”.
The narrative is written in a natural way and indicates about the adolescence of the author. Nabokov hardly suggests much about his story. The story revolves around a pretty Russian girl, Olga who was born into a noble and wealthy family of Pittsburgh. Her childhood was very joyful but very soon she lost her mother, brother. She also lost her father after sometime which compelled her to struggle for basic needs. Olga flees Russia in the midst of Russian revolution.
Olga’s life is completely changed and she finds herself in forced sexual relationship and dies in her twenties. Nabokov portrays her poor condition in these words, “But presently her life darkened. Something was finished, people were already getting up to leave. How quickly! Her father died, she moved to another street. She stopped seeing her friends, knitted the little bonnets in fashion, and gave cheap French lessons at some ladies' club or other. In this way her life dragged on to the age of thirty” (Nabokov, p. 6).
The background of this literary fiction belongs to Russian revolution and all the related disturbances. Olga was born into a rich and noble family. Her family was living an extravagant life without even fathoming what is coming to them. When Olga was just five years old, Russian revolution was conceptualized, and her family was disturbed out of changing circumstances. A massive immigration broke out after the rule of tsar was decimated, and people started fleeing to other nations (Nabokov).
Nabokov portrays how Russian revolution changed Olga’s life completely. Olga’s lavish life came to an end and she was forced to live in poverty. She faced problems in fulfilling her basic needs, her family was dead and she was forced to flee from her motherland, due to circumstances, arising out of Russian revolution. The author portrays how Russians migrated to other countries in huge numbers. Olga, the Russian beauty, turned into a sex object and dies in inexplicable circumstances.
“A Russian Beauty” runs into different terrains. At a place, it appears as a happy story but at very next step, it may appear a tragic story. Things change in a very rapid manner, and it becomes difficult for readers to decide what kind of story is this. Sometimes the story moves in a slow pace however at very next scene, it may appear as very fast moving story. Such writing style also suggests the neophyte writing of Vladimir Nabokov.
The genre of this literary fiction is historical and fictional. Olga clues readers in about her family and about contemporary Russian society. She also narrates about Russian revolution and incidents that took place before and after of the revolution. The story belongs to even modernism that is one common aspect of literary writing in the era of the First World War. A number of authors portray modernism in their stories. This literary work is also a literary fiction that emphasizes on characters, style and psychological issues (Nabokov).
“A Russian Beauty” is one of the earliest stories of Nabokov. Words and sentences are pretty understandable throughout the story and readers do not need to emphasize on their minds to understand the story. Though words are easy to understand, but the writing style and way of expression is very strong. Describing Olga’s beauty, he writes “Yet there was a time in her life, at the end of 1916 or so, when at a summer resort near the family estate there was no schoolboy who did not plan to shoot himself because of her, there was no university student .” (Nabokov, p. 4).
“A Russian Beauty” ends with the death of its main character, Olga and leaves readers among several complex questions. The story is an old story and may not be famous as other works of the Vladimir Nabokov, but people of literature find this story very deep and legible. This story is quoted by scholars, and many have worked on this story in order to reveal its real sense. Many people suggest that this story reflects the life of Vladimir Nabokov himself. There are more than few reasons to believe that the story is very close to the life of the author (Nabokov).
Having observed the succinct analysis of the abovementioned story, it can be concluded that “A Russian Beauty” is one of very meaningful stories of Vladimir Nabokov. The story takes readers into the history and also glimpses about the modern world. The story portrays different colors of the life and time which is a commendable feature of the story. The way of expressing things and the words that authors selected are simple yet very powerful.
Works Cited
Nabokov. "A Russian Beauty Trivia." Esquire, Volume 79 (4-6) (1973): 174-230.
Nabokov, Vladimir V. A Russian beauty and other stories. USA: McGraw-Hill, 1973. Online.
