Nabokov and some literature themes of german romanticism

The article studies the connection between Nabokov's poetics and German romantic tradition. The motif of searching of one's father and motif of greater good are traced in L. Tieck's novel Franz Sternbald's Travel (1798) as well as in Nabokov's novel The Gift (1934). In both novels the motif of searching of one's father is related to existential problematics. Thus it acquires characteristics of metaphorical code. Tieck's young artist and Nabokov's young writer need to take their place in their fathers' world. The motif of searching of one's father is secretly represented in the novel Invitation to the Beheading (1938). Spiritual bonding between father and son based on Trinitarian Christian model correlates with the searching of one's father in German romanticism. This motif turns out to be the leading motif of the character's existential self-identification. Motif of greater good is based on the idea of religious harmony of subject and object. It predefines archaic style of plot strategies which is reconstructed in Franz Sternbald's Travel and ironically interpreted in The Gift. Franz Sternbald follows the hand of God whereas Fedor Godunov-Cherdyntsev interacts with it as with equal. Play and mischief of the Creator inspires Nabokov's character and becomes the guide to his art.