Lights, Cinema, and the Writer's Pencil! Vladimir Nabokov and Cinema

Catalog description

An experimental and synesthetic author, Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) featured many references to films and actors in his novels - from Buster Keaton to Greta Garbo, and from Charlie Chaplin's "The Floorwalker" to Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last!" These references are not only thematic, but also stylistic, turning Nabokov into one of the first writers who tried and adapted cinematographic techniques to literary texts. In this way, Nabokov shapes a style that is able to tell stories through visual associations, to convey the dynamicity of our lives, and to express the human experiences of time and imagination. During the course, we will read Nabokov's writings (including "Lolita," "A Laughter in the Dark," "The Gift," and "Invitation to a Beheading") and contextualize him in his multi-cultural milieu - from pre-revolutionary Russia to the emigration in Europe and to his success in the US. We will see that Nabokov was a writer curious to explore human self-consciousness by responding to the cultural trends swirling around him. As we read his novels, we will watch early twentieth-century movies and discuss how Nabokov turned cinematographic techniques into literary devices. Together, we will reflect on how cinema has changed the way we tell stories and recount and visualize our experiences. Thanks to its interdisciplinary nature and to Nabokov being a multi-lingual author, the course is open to students of Slavic studies, English studies, comparative literatures, and cinema studies, as well as to students who are curious to explore the themes of experimentation and hybridization among the arts.