Nabokov in Motion

1. Chaos and Order

On the Poetics of Urbanism
Bodies and Texts
From Chaos to Order
The Urban Infrastructure, or âWhat Lies Beneath the Asphalt of the Text?â
The Resurrection of Electricity
Buildings, Stairs, Elevators
The Life of Things
The Telephone: A Conduit to the Other World
The Street Advertisement
The Shop Window of Metatexts

2. The Train as a New Locus of Myth Creation in Literature

The Topos of the Beginning
The Railroad as a Metaliterary Device
The Railroad Metaphor
Childhood and the Locomotive: A Model of the World
Toys and Reasons
The Station/Depot
The Hierarchy of Classes
The Existential Nature of the Journey by Rail
The Killing Power of the Train and Engine
The Train Wreck
Conductor to Immortality
The Mythology of the Train
The Esoteric Language of Trains
Train. Love. Fate
The Boredom of the Road
An Erotic Encounter
Violence and the Railroad
The Poetics of Description
Personification and Animation
Cliches: Russians and the Railroad
On the Road and Longing for Russia
Nabokov and Tsvetaeva: Synoptic Chart of a Dialog
The Beckoning Distance
Telegraph Poles
The View from the Train Window
The Underground

3. The Automobile in the Works of Nabokov: The Semantics of Driving and the Metaliterary Process

Auto vs. Train
The Ride to School
The Nabokovsâ American Cars
Driving Experience
The Model
Car controls (a Novel on Wheels)
âCrossroads of Lifeâ: The Symbolism of Driving
Worlds Unknown to Each Other
Metaphysics of the Garage
The Route Through the Text
The Automobile in the Landscape
Vehicular Mimicry
Sex in a Car
An Incident on the Street
Forewarnings
The Car Accident
Death of the Hero
The Furniture Truck

4. Symbolism of the Airplane: Breakthrough to Another Dimension
The Airplane Schematic
Flight in the Russian Periodical Press in the 1910s
âAnd the Steel Bird Will Flyâ: The Airplane in Russian Poetry in the Early Twentieth Century
The Magic of Names
Insects, Birds, and Fish
On the Genesis and Context of Nabokovâs Poem, âThe Airplaneâ
The Music of Flight
Flight and Performance
The Aesthetics of Public Death
Death of the Pilot
War in the Air
The Futurist Thesaurus
Overcoming Gravity: Hymn to the Airplane
Flights, Dreaming, and Waking
The Last Station

Bibliography
Index