Еще раз об андерсеновском следе в романе В. Набокова «Король, дама, валет» [Once Again on Hans Christian Andersen’s Presence in Vladimir Nabokov’s Novel _Korol’, dama, valet_ (_King, Queen, Knave_)]

Abstract

This article is an inquiry into the possible origin of the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s second Russian novel King, Queen, Knave (Korol’, dama, valet, 1928). It proves a long-forgotten hypothesis that the title’s likely source is a lesser-known fairy-tale by Hans Christian Andersen, published in several translations into Russian in Berlin and Riga émigré newspapers at the very end of the 1920s.

KEYWORDS: 20^th-Century Russian Literature, Vladimir Nabokov (1899—1977), Korol’, dama, valet (1928), Hans Christian Andersen (1805—1875), Russian émigré Press, History of Literature.