The Metaphorical Meaning of “Resemblance” in Despair

【Abstract】This paper aims to explore the metaphorical meaning of “resemblance” and the wicked purposes of the characters in Vladimir Nabokovs early work Despair. And it reveals that the purpose of Nabokov was to criticize the greedy， selfish and merciless society by discussing the theme of “resemblance”.

【Key words】Resemblance; Vladimir Nabokov; Despair

【作者簡介】劉萍，重慶師范大學涉外商貿(mào)學院。

Despair， as the early work of Vladimir Nabokov， was completed in 1932， originally written in Russian and first published in Berlin in 1936. In the same year of the book first published， Nabokov himself translated it into English for a London Publishing House. In 1965， Nabokov rewrote the book in English. It can be seen that Nabokov had put a lot effort in Despair. It tells the story of a chocolate businessman Hermann trying to defraud insurance by killing a tramp. Once， he went to Prague for his business negotiations， and came across a tramp named Felix. When Hermann saw Felix， he felt that homeless man resembled him in looks. Since then， he had been planning a murder， in which Felix was to be killed and the victim was to be mistaken by the police as Hermann. Therefore， he could use the identity of Felix and live on the insurance money of his “death”. With the development of the story， it turns out that the fabricated part is not the story written by Hermann， but the “resemblance” between Hermann and Felix. In terms of its profound theme， to analyze Hermanns obsession with his imaginary resemblance is the key to understand the essential meaning of Nabokovs “despair”.

In the story of the pursuit of “resemblance”， Hermann was the dominant player. Being a failed chocolate businessman and a cuckolded husband， Hermann wanted to control everything， and that desperate need to control others derived from both his almost crazy narcissism and his self-loathing. Moreover， the desire to be an artist of Hermann could be proved by his consideration of the presumably perfect murder plot to be an artistical expression rather than a scheme to gain money. Actually， Hermanns absurd pursuit of “resemblance” implies the pursuit of the collective identification. On Hermanns part， “resemblance” means a protecting umbrella under which he could blatantly commit evils. He fancied the identification of a group for the sake of satisfying his desire of controlling and getting away from his failed life. Hermanns obsession actually represents a group of people who took advantage of the strong material desire of the marginalized， lower， underprivileged people， convinced them that they had the mutually beneficial plans and needed their cooperation， and controlled them to serve for their own selfish interests.

The absurdity of “resemblance” is embodied on the supporting character as well. Felix， the direct victim of Hermanns delusion， was a tramp who was in an awful situation of making a living and had a desperate need to improve his condition， and that stirred him up to “collaborate” with Hermann. But here comes a question： Had the resemblance between Hermann and Felix been fabricated by Hermann， how could Felix have accepted the arrangement of Hermann？ It is exactly because of Felixs desperate living condition. Felix， as it is， was in the desperate struggle with the society and was left no choice but to resign， renounce and eventually perish. Pursuing satisfaction of material profit without independent thinking of the standard of morality and without the sense of the right and evil， Felix， on the other hand， reflected a group of people who recognized the false and the unreal in order to achieve their own interests， desire and illusion. They lost their uncompromisable freedom and happiness that were the upmost promise and goal of the affluent society.

From the above analysis of the meaning of “resemblance” to characters， it comes to a conclusion that both Hermanns obsession and Felixs concertation with their “resemblance” indicate a confusion in identity cognition. The description of the pursuit of “resemblance” alludes to the criticism that might derived from the earlier experience of Nabokov in Russia and Germany. Under a big social background， the pursuit of “resemblance” implied that the leader of the society tried to universalize the people and make use of their pursuit of identity to control them. In the novel， Hermann talked about his opinion of Communism in his manuscript as follows： “that Communism shall indeed create a beautifully square world of identical brawny fellows， broad-shouldered and microcephalous”which showed the doubt of Nabokov to Communism. Therefore， Nabokovs despair was a doubt and disappointment to peoples abandonment of independent thinking. It also criticized the conduct of taking advantage of the secular desire for wealth of the social community and the absurd pursuit of universality and identification.

References：

[1]王丹.試論納博科夫小說《絕望》中的自我分裂與對話世界[J].鄭州大學學報（哲學社會科學版），2013（2）：123-126.