Aleppo Once Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov short story "That in Aleppo Once..." presents a man who brings forth himself victim on his own tragic romantic misfortune. The protagonist, a writer who currently resides in New York, writes to an ambiguous yet close companion about his struggles with love, regret, and abandonment through strenuous times in Europe. The story takes form of a letter written by a Russian emigre in Central Park to his fellow countryman "V," relating the incidents of his emigration and inviting him to make a story out of it. The letter illustrates the protagonist's guilt of loving his wife, who commits adultery and latter abandons him without notice, but through the story it reveals details that show that the narrator's actions are equally detrimental to the relationship that initially prompted the first stages of separation.In the opening paragraphs of Nabokov's short story, it's clear that the protagonist's true passion is his younger years in Russia, where he was writing with his true friend "V." He reminisces the "days when we wrote our first udder-warm bubbling verse," but his devotion to writing is particularly evident in the preceding paragraph expressing his concern of "betraying our nati
onal literature." According to the writer, it is apparent that betrayal, or possibly abandonment from ones owns upbringing to their native language is truly a dire sin. During the journey on their honeymoon she cries about a dog they had left behind, "the dog we left. I cannot forget the poor dog." Her "honesty of her grief" was shocking to the narrator because he hasn't any recollection of buying a dog during their stay. However, the dog again is mentioned again, but through another party. His wife has also told this woman that the narrator hanged their pet dog before leaving Paris, "but one thing I shall never forgive you - her dog, that poor beast which you hanged you're your own hands before leaving Paris." Although it is known previously that there is no dog, it could be possible that it is one of her many fabrications, which therefore leads to a dilemma on whose testimony do we accept? The writer also realizes that she is much younger than him, "She was much younger than I," and in recording this fact he draws parallels with Pushkin and Othello, both of who were jealously possessive of their young wives, "not as much younger as was Nathalie of the lovely bare shoulders and long earrings in relation to swarthy Pushkin...(down to the jealousy down to the filth, down to the stab of seeing her almond-shaped eyes turn to her blond Cassio behind her peacock-feathered fan)." It's evident that the narrator has notions of jealousy when he compares his relationships with Pushkin, who also had domineering qualities with his spouse. It is possible to see the protagonist writer as an unfortunate man who fell victim to an eccentric Jewish German woman who needed a temporary companion for her beneficial means. Or even a misunderstood writer wh
Some common words found in the essay are:
Pushkin Othello, Central Park, Desdemona Othello, War Jews, Vladimir Nabokov, Jewish German, World War, Othello Othello, protagonist writer, William Shakespeare's, jewish german woman, dog left, own actions, leaving paris, narrator's actions, third party, jewish german, led physical, world war, german woman,
Approximate Word count = 1187
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
