Король, дама, валет

V svoem vtorom, napisannom v Berline romane "Korolʹ, dama, valet" (1928) Vladimir Nabokov obrashchaetsi͡a k materialu iz nemet͡skoĭ zhizni i vpervye prinimaetsi͡a za glubokoe issledovanie obyvatelʹskoĭ psikhologii, prodolzhennoe zatem v "Kamere obskura" i "Otchai͡anii". Za kriminalʹnym si͡uzhetom s li͡ubovnym treugolʹnikom kroetsi͡a masterski raskrytoe protivostoi͡anie dvukh poli͡arnykh obrazov zhizni: trafaretnogo, bezdushnogo, dovedennogo do avtomatizma, i estestvennogo, polnokrovnogo, tvorcheskogo. V uslovnom mire reklam i modnykh zhurnalov oveshchestvli͡aetsi͡a kak budto samo soznanie i estestvo molodoĭ "damy", glavnoĭ geroini knigi, i naoborot, neozhidannoĭ poėzieĭ napolni͡ai͡utsi͡a byt i proekty ee muzha, bogatogo kommersanta Draĭera, - "koroli͡a" v toĭ slozhnoĭ igre, kotorui͡u vedet s chitatelem Nabokov.

In his second novel, written in Berlin, "The King, the Queen, the Jack" (1928), Vladimir Nabokov turns to material from German life and for the first time begins an in-depth study of philistine psychology, which was then continued in "Camera Obscura" and "Despair". Behind the criminal plot with a love triangle lies a masterfully revealed confrontation between two polar lifestyles: the stencil, soulless, brought to automatism, and the natural, full-blooded, creative. In the conventional world of advertisements and fashion magazines, the very consciousness and nature of the young "lady", the main character of the book, is reified, and vice versa, the life and projects of her husband, the rich merchant Dreyer, the "king" in the complex game that Nabokov is playing with the reader, are filled with unexpected poetry.