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• 1 2020-09-21T14:06:36-04:00 Invitation to a Beheading 11-21 34 Vladimir Nabokov plain 2020-12-12T15:54:22-05:00

  Hannah Bartoshesky
  
  pg. 11 — Cincinnatus C.
  The main character, a thirty-year-old man condemned to death and awaiting his beheading for a seemingly nonsensical crime: "gnostical turpitude." Described as a frail waif-like man with golden blond hair and a thin, light mustache. His smallness is emphasized in how he fits in the wash bin brought to his cell, and needs to get his jail robes pinned up so the hem doesn’t drag. He is persecuted, and subsequently sentenced, merely for being different. He describes himself as “opaque” while all others in society are “transparent." Early in life Cincinnatus learned to hide his “opaqueness"; he became a kindergarten teacher for children with disabilities, and married Marthe. As his marriage becomes strained, he lets his guard down and is recognized for his differences. The book focuses around his distress about his impending execution. The name "Cincinnatus" is drawn from the Roman statesman (born ~519 BCE), Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who was known for his civic virtue: he famously rose from his humble farm to take charge of the republic during a time of crisis, and nobly ceded his control upon its resolution. Thus, the name "Cincinnatus" gives our protagonist the air of an everyman who is called to leadership but returns to his humble origins when his mission has been accomplished.

  pg. 12 — Rodion (The jailer)
  He is the one that takes Cincinnatus to the “fortress”. He has an “attractive Russian countenance” with a splendid red beard and cornflower blue eyes. He seems quite friendly for the most part -- described as fat and jovial, he even invites Cincinnatus to dance one evening. He does, however, seem offended by Cincinnatus' mentality, and often rebukes him for expressing himself in his particular manner (in the manner of one who has committed “gnostical turpitude”). Although he initially seems to have a distinct personality and appearance, at times he seems to trade places with the lawyer Roman and Director Rodrig, switching roles, clothes, and even physical features seemingly at random as a means of underlining how each is interchangeable in this strange society. The name "Rodion" is likely inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's fictional protagonist Rodion Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment (1866).  Raskolnikov is an impoverished ex-law student, living in St. Petersburg who commits murder, justified and motivated by his belief in the theory of the "Ubermensch": a belief that he he belongs to a different class of man with the right to transgress the law. The narrative of Raskolnikov is in part meant to explore the idea of salvation through attonement, after he has commited this sensless crime. This naming of the jailer perhaps adds some ironic humor to Invitation to a Beheading since Rodion's namesake has commited very tangible crimes, while the man Rodion now gaurds has not made any clear offense and has no need for attonement.

  pg. 12 — The lawyer (Roman Vissarionovich)
  Because of the peculiar rule that the defender and prosecutor must be twin brothers, he wears heavy makeup to look like the prosecutor: including blue eyebrows and a long hairlip. Though he defended Cincinnatus he seems rather unconcerned with Cincinnatus’ wants, apart from expressing sympathy on a superficial level. For example, he finds it much more interesting and urgent to order copies of the speeches made in court than to address Cincinnatus’ concerns over the date of his execution. Roman is ineffectual and fond of legal jargon and formalities. Once again, despite these distinct traits he is also seen to trade places with the director Rodrig and jailer Rodion.  A further link is drawn between Rodion and Roman as "Roman" is the name of Rodion's namesake's (Raskolnikov's) father's name.

  pg. 13 — Skipper 
  An informal name for the captain of a ship.

  pg. 13 — Marthe
  Cincinnatus’ unfaithful wife. She is often described as child or doll-like; she has rosy cheeks, a round forehead, thin eyebrows, and round hazel eyes. She often wears some article of velvet and speaks with a lisp. Cincinnatus is angered by, but helplessly tolerates, her unfaithfulness as she indiscreetly takes many lovers.

  Pg. 14 — Prison Director (Rodrig Ivanovich)
  A rather pompous man, ingratiating and quite concerned with appearances, he often makes visits to Cincinnatus’ cell. He is a large man with a waxy black toupee, thick sallow cheeks, and bulging eyes. Despite these distinct traits he is also seen to trade places with the lawyer Roman and jailer Rodin.

  pg. 15 — Sabayon
  Sabayon is an Italian dessert made with egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet wine whipped into a light custard. In Invitation to a Beheading a rice-pudding type sabayon is served as part of Cincinnatus’ meals.

  pg. 17 —  Gaol
  British spelling of “jail”

  pg. 18 —  Garden Street
  This street is near the entrance to the city on the way to Cincinnatus’ house. There is a lot of nature imagery associated with Cincinnatus's memories of home, most specifically the Tamara Gardens that are his safe haven.

  pg. 18 — Filigrane
  A translucent image; a watermark.

  pg. 19 — Tamara Gardens
  An important and recurring place in the novel; it is painted as a beautiful and lush public park. It is where Cincinnatus would go on walks with Marthe, his eventual wife. It is a place that Cincinnatus could go to forget all the troubles of daily life, and feel quite distant and safe from the oppressive society he did not fit into. The gardens seem to symbolize happiness and freedom to Cincinnatus, and take on a dream-like quality in his reflections. "Tam" also means "there" in Russian, painting the Tamara gardens as some other world; distinct and seperate from the rest of the locations in the novel. The words tut ("here") and tam ("there") also create a reccuring motif, appearing frequently as parts of longer words and phrases in the original Russian, and further emphasizing this dichotomy between Cincinnatus' reality and that of everyone else he encounters; the two different worlds to which Cincinnatus belongs.

  pg. 19 — Matterfact St. 
  This is another street Cincinnatus navigates to return to his house through the town. It is used as an abrupt transition from Cincinnatus’s reflections on the idyllic Tamara gardens, back to the banal, “matter-of-fact" (matterfact), reality. Nabokov also uses this street name to set the Tamara gardens at odds with reality itself; using a phonetic reversal (taking the “tam” from tammara to make “mat”, the beginning of “matterfact”) to juxtapose these two places.

  pg. 19 — Telegraph St.
  A street along Cincinnatus’s route to his house; it is just past the telegraph workers building.

  pg. 23 — Good Morning Folks
  A newspaper. Speculating, Nabokov's chosen title for this paper may contain a mocking undertone because often Cincinnatus dreads the following day. In reality for him, there is no "good morning". 
  
  pg. 23 — Voice of the Public
  A newspaper. Voice of the Public could be referring to everyone else's views in Cincinnatus' life, where it is everyone against him, where he is ostracized and this paper represents all of those who are the same and only differ from Cincinnatus alone in regards to views and beliefs. 
  
  pg. 24 — Strop River
  "Strop. Vladimir Dal’s dictionary, Nabokov’s main and most favorite Russian language reference tool, provides clues for the etymology of the river’s name that apparently stems from the Church Slavonic stropota. On the one hand, stropota means “falsehood, mendacity” that aptly defines the world surrounding Cincinnatus; on the other hand, it connotes “stubbornness, unyieldingness, obstinacy” that well describe the protagonist’s ultimate resistance to his oppressors" (cf. the Russian adjective stroptivyi [“obstinate, refractory, shrewish”]) (see Vladimir Dal’, Tolkovyi slovar’ zhivogo velikorusskogo iazyka, 4 vols., Moscow: “Vysshaia shkola,” 1980; rept. 1882, 4: 342). (Gavriel Shapiro)
  
  pg. 24 — Cecilia C.
  Cincinnatus' birth mother. She had him in her teens but he grew up in what seems to be an orphanage or children's home. Cecilia is revered in Romantic literature as the patroness of harmony, and is the Catholic church's patron saint of music. This genealogy, in addition to his mysterious father, gives Cincinnatus an air of the mythical: as poetry is the product of the union of music and language, Cincinnatus, the "last poet" in his strange world, is the child of the patron saint of music.
  
  pg. 24 — The Ponds
  A fictional location where Cincinnatus' mother conceived him. 

  pg. 25 — Saburov Sleds 

  This appears to be a made-up type of sled. Some sources claim there is a connection between the Saburov sleds and the Pushkin poem “To Saburov” (1824), in which “the poet says that Saburov slandered his hussar (cavalry) escapades during his Lyceum years (1811-17)”. (Alexey Sklyarenko)

                                                                               Saburov, you slandered
                                                                               My hussar ventures,
                                                                               How I walked with Kaverin,
                                                                               Scolded Russia with Molostvov,
                                                                               I read with my Chadayev,
                                                                               How, rejecting all worries, I
                                                                               spent a year between them,
                                                                               But Zubov did not
                                                                               seduce me with His swarthy ass.
  
  pg. 25 —  Wagonet
  One of the several bizarre locomotive contraptions in the world of Invitation to a Beheading.

  pg. 25 —  Arkady Ilyich
  A side character we never meet. His name may either be an allusion to Arkady Ilyich Ostashev, a prominent Soviet-Russian mechanical engineer who participated in the launch of sputnik (in 1957, two years before the publishing of Invitation to a Beheading), or a nod to Lenin whose full patronymic was Vladimir Ilyich.

  pg. 26 —  Upsilamba
  “An archaic letter,” seemingly made up and belonging to the language once spoken in this fictional world. It probably was inspired by the greek letters epsilon and lambda, and is connected to the things that Cincinnatus finds wondrous such as the rare trinkets of the Second Boulevard Museum -- things that the “transparent” masses fail to understand.

  pg. 26 — Second Boulevard museum
  A small dusty museum that Cincinnatus frequented as a child and takes his children. He finds the collection to be “rare” and “marvelous” while everyone else in town sees them as “limited” and “transparent” like themselves. This builds on the sense of separation between Cincinnatus and the rest of the population, building his pariah status. This is a theme throughout; he seems to value old things, especially old technologies. Later, he remarks on the beauty of old cars, and the way in which both machines and people appear more active and substantive in old photos (p.51).

  pg. 27 —  Floating Library
  A library built in memorial of Dr. Sineokov.

  pg. 27 — Dr. Sineokov
  A doctor who drowned in the city river, where the Floating Library now stands.

  pg. 27 — The Toy Shop
  A place where the protagonist, Cincinnatus, worked when he was 15, creating dolls and other assortments of small statues.

  pg. 27 — Pushkin
  Referring to Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), a famed Russian poet, author, and playwright from the early-19th century. He was known for breaking barriers in Russian literature and was widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern Russian literature. He was widely acclaimed by both Russians and non-Russians alike for his skills of writing various genres, including publishing a poem that got him exiled by the Tsar of Russia. His writings helped resulted in the notion of the "Golden Age of Russian Literature" due to his prominence.

  pg. 27 — Gogol
  Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was a mid-to-late-19th century novelist and playwright who was born in the Russian Empire (currently modern-day Ukraine). He was highly regarded as a novelist and short-story writer by many famous Russian writers, including Alexander Pushkin.

  pg. 27 — Tolstoy
  Referring to Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), another prominent 19th-century Russian author. He is widely regarded as one of the best novelist of all time, publishing masterpieces including War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He also published many short stories, often with moral messages hidden within them. During his later years, he became a moralist and started to teach people the importance of morality along with religion.

  pg. 27 — Dobrolyobov
  Nikolay Dobrolyobov (1836-1861) was a mid-19th century Russian author, literary critic, and journalist. He was known for rejecting the romantic and traditional literatures of Russia. Dobrolyobov heavily disdained the "superfluous man" , was a critic of the society, and was a critical founder of the Russian nihilist movement. His most famous writing is "What is Oblomovism?" based on a novel by Ivan Goncharov, another famous Russian author.

  pg. 27 — “The mythical” Nineteenth Century
  Also known as the "Golden Age of Russian Literature," the "mythical" Nineteenth Century refers to the vast amount of literary masterpieces published by various infamous Russian authors who all lived during that period. These prominent authors include Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, among many others. This was the age when Russian literature was truly flourishing, when the identities of Russian writers were being established and recognized by the world.