An Analysis Of The Real Life Of Sebastian Knight From The Prospective Of Autobiographical Literature

As a Russian refugee, Nabokov himself experienced the society turbulence, and he is far to be satisfied with the destitute and homeless life. So it is understandable for him to memory the former days. The Real Life of Sebastian Knight was Nabokov's first English work which was written when he became exile. Sebastian Knight is a writer which is composed by Nabokov who took himself as the prototype. Like Nabokov, Sebastian Knight also gives up his mother tongue, to write in English. To abandon Russian begrudgingly, to work in English unwillingly, to speak French inescapably, to mingle with plenty of lingos, and to switch among different languages under different scenes, the novel's peculiarity impressed its readers deeply. Perhaps, the works Nabokov and Sebastian write in Russian and in English are just the half-brothers, like V. and Knight. All Nabokov recited is the allegory of his own life. To a great degree, we can summarize that The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, is in fact the Real Life of Nabokov.Through studying the novel, and compared it with the biographies of Nabokov, the author find that The Real Life of Sebastian Knight can reveal Nabokov in many aspects. There are some researches about Nabokov both in and abroad, but they are parallel from his works or his lives. The studies about his life and spiritual process from his works are rare and scattered. The author takes the very point to compare the life of Sebastian Knight with Nabokov, to cross the researches about Nabokov, attempts to reveal a solid and visualized Vladimir Nabokov.The thesis attempts to analyze Nabokov's first English work The Real Life of Sebastian Knight from the autobiographical literature theory, consisting of Four chapters:Chapter One is the introduction of Nabokov, his main works and his writing style; Chapter Two is the theoretical framework concerning autobiography and autobiographical novel; Chapter Three is the life and thoughts of the protagonist in the novel; Chapter Four is the comparison of condition and thoughts between Nabokov and the protagonist Sebastian Knight:They lost common world, common mother tongue, but they have the same belief and same commitment of soul-writing. They would realize the superposition in writing. So, the author concludes on this basis that Sebastian Knight is Nabokov. The novel reveals Nabokov's identity, his psychology in exile and his thoughts towards his condition. And the author also points out the limitations of the study and gives some suggestions for the future study in Conclusion.