King, Queen, Knave
Encyclopedia
King, Queen, Knave is a novel
written by Vladimir Nabokov
(under his pen name
V. Sirin
), while living in Berlin
and sojourning at resorts in the Baltic
in 1928. It was published as Король, дама, валет (Korol', dama, valet) in Russian
in October of that year; the novel was translated into English
by the author's son Dmitri Nabokov
(with significant changes made by the author) in 1968, forty years after its Russian debut.
department store of his well-to-do uncle (actually, his mother's cousin), Dreyer. On the train ride to Berlin Franz is seated in the same compartment with (Kurt) Dreyer and Dreyer's wife, Martha, neither of whom Franz has met. Franz is immediately enchanted by Martha's beauty, and, shortly after Franz begins work at the store, the two strike up a secret love affair.
As the novel continues Martha's distaste for her husband grows more pronounced, and with it her adoration for Franz. Franz, meanwhile, begins to lose any will of his own, and becomes a numb extension of his lover. Dreyer, meanwhile, continues to lavish blind adulation on his wife, and is only hurt, not suspicious, when she returns his love with resentment.
As her relationship with Franz deepens, Martha begins to hatch schemes for Dreyer's demise. Franz himself has begun to lose interest in Martha, but he goes along with her plotting. As part of Martha's plans, the three vacation together at the Seaview Hotel at Gravitz, a resort at the Baltic. She plans to take Dreyer, who cannot swim, out in a rowing boat so he can be drowned. On the boat, however, the plot is suspended by Martha when she learns from Dreyer that he is about to close a very profitable business deal. Martha then gets pneumonia from the rain and the cold on the boat. To Dreyer's great sorrow she passes away; he never learned about the betrayal and the danger he was in. Franz relieved by her death is heard laughing "in a frenzy of young mirth".
Other characters in the novel are the "conjuror" Old Enricht who rents out a room to Franz, and the Inventor who was developing robot-like "automannequins" financed by Dreyer who hoped to make money by selling the invention to the American Mr. Ritter. The Inventor promised to make three dummies, however, at the final performance for Ritter, only the "elderly gentleman" with Dreyer's jacket and the woman ("walking like a streetwalker") were ready. The woman dummy crashed in a final clatter.
theme, is enacted through the creation of the "automannequins". The character's fates can be read in the automatons'
performance: the male dummy performs with panache and exits the stage; the female dummy's crash foreshadows Martha's demise; the third dummy is incomplete and unable to perform its intended mission.
Additionally, the actual automaton Franz represents a backward critique by Nabokov of the Weimar
German psyche—ripe for destructive organization. The picture of Franz is that of a lower-class German who is easily manipulated, surrenders his moral judgment, and becomes increasingly dehumanized. In the book's last scenes, Nabokov describes Franz (with great penetration and comedy) as having "reached a stage at which human speech, unless representing a command, was meaningless." When Nabokov wrote the story, Nazism
was then in its nascent
stages, and Franz appears as a "Nazi in the making". Franz is faced in the train to Berlin by a man with a grotesque facial disfiguration, a glimpse of his fate according to the narrator. The narrator tells us also that Franz will be eventually be “guilty of worse sins than avunculicide
", a section that was inserted by Nabokov much later with historical hindsight when he prepared the English translation.
of Vladimir Nabokov. The name Mr. Vivian Badlook also appears in the text, a "fellow skier and teacher of English," who photographs Dreyer in Davos, another anagram of Vladimir Nabokov.
In the book, there's also a self-reference to a fictional movie King, Queen, Knave, based on a play by a "Goldemar".
and starring Gina Lollobrigida
, David Niven
and John Moulder-Brown, was released in 1972.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
(under his pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
V. Sirin
Sirin
Sirin is a mythological creature of Russian legends, with the head and chest of a beautiful woman and the body of a bird . According to myth, the Sirins lived "in Indian lands" near Eden or around the Euphrates River....
), while living in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and sojourning at resorts in the Baltic
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
in 1928. It was published as Король, дама, валет (Korol', dama, valet) in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
in October of that year; the novel was translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by the author's son Dmitri Nabokov
Dmitri Nabokov
Dmitri Vladimirovich Nabokov is an American opera singer and translator. He is the only child of writer Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera Nabokov, and is currently executor of his father's literary estate.-Background:...
(with significant changes made by the author) in 1968, forty years after its Russian debut.
Plot summary
Franz (Bubendorf), a young man from a small town, is sent away from home to work in the BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
department store of his well-to-do uncle (actually, his mother's cousin), Dreyer. On the train ride to Berlin Franz is seated in the same compartment with (Kurt) Dreyer and Dreyer's wife, Martha, neither of whom Franz has met. Franz is immediately enchanted by Martha's beauty, and, shortly after Franz begins work at the store, the two strike up a secret love affair.
As the novel continues Martha's distaste for her husband grows more pronounced, and with it her adoration for Franz. Franz, meanwhile, begins to lose any will of his own, and becomes a numb extension of his lover. Dreyer, meanwhile, continues to lavish blind adulation on his wife, and is only hurt, not suspicious, when she returns his love with resentment.
As her relationship with Franz deepens, Martha begins to hatch schemes for Dreyer's demise. Franz himself has begun to lose interest in Martha, but he goes along with her plotting. As part of Martha's plans, the three vacation together at the Seaview Hotel at Gravitz, a resort at the Baltic. She plans to take Dreyer, who cannot swim, out in a rowing boat so he can be drowned. On the boat, however, the plot is suspended by Martha when she learns from Dreyer that he is about to close a very profitable business deal. Martha then gets pneumonia from the rain and the cold on the boat. To Dreyer's great sorrow she passes away; he never learned about the betrayal and the danger he was in. Franz relieved by her death is heard laughing "in a frenzy of young mirth".
Other characters in the novel are the "conjuror" Old Enricht who rents out a room to Franz, and the Inventor who was developing robot-like "automannequins" financed by Dreyer who hoped to make money by selling the invention to the American Mr. Ritter. The Inventor promised to make three dummies, however, at the final performance for Ritter, only the "elderly gentleman" with Dreyer's jacket and the woman ("walking like a streetwalker") were ready. The woman dummy crashed in a final clatter.
Themes, foreshadows
One of Nabokov's favorite subjects, the doppelgängerDoppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
theme, is enacted through the creation of the "automannequins". The character's fates can be read in the automatons'
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
performance: the male dummy performs with panache and exits the stage; the female dummy's crash foreshadows Martha's demise; the third dummy is incomplete and unable to perform its intended mission.
Additionally, the actual automaton Franz represents a backward critique by Nabokov of the Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
German psyche—ripe for destructive organization. The picture of Franz is that of a lower-class German who is easily manipulated, surrenders his moral judgment, and becomes increasingly dehumanized. In the book's last scenes, Nabokov describes Franz (with great penetration and comedy) as having "reached a stage at which human speech, unless representing a command, was meaningless." When Nabokov wrote the story, Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
was then in its nascent
Nascent
Nascent may refer to:* Birth* Nascent hydrogen* Nascentes do Rio Parnaíba National Park, a national park of Brazil* Nascent-polypeptide-associated complex alpha polypeptide, a human gene* Nascent market...
stages, and Franz appears as a "Nazi in the making". Franz is faced in the train to Berlin by a man with a grotesque facial disfiguration, a glimpse of his fate according to the narrator. The narrator tells us also that Franz will be eventually be “guilty of worse sins than avunculicide
Avunculicide
Avunculicide is the act of killing an uncle. The word can also refer to someone who commits such an act. The term is derived from the Latin words avunculus meaning "maternal uncle" and caedere meaning "to cut or kill". Edmunds suggests that in mythology avunculicide is a substitute for parricide...
", a section that was inserted by Nabokov much later with historical hindsight when he prepared the English translation.
Authorial walk-ons
The author and his wife, though not directly identified, are portrayed near the end of the novel as a happy, but "puzzling" couple who are also vacationing in the Baltic resort and speaking in a foreign tongue; they have a butterfly net, which is taken for a fishing net by Franz and a shrimp net by Martha, but Dreyer identifies it correctly. Later Franz sees them again and feels they are talking about him and know "everything about his predicament". Dreyer reads a list of people in their hotel. The strange name Blavdak Vinomori strikes him; presumably this is the name of the male of this couple. It is easy to recognize an anagramAnagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of Vladimir Nabokov. The name Mr. Vivian Badlook also appears in the text, a "fellow skier and teacher of English," who photographs Dreyer in Davos, another anagram of Vladimir Nabokov.
In the book, there's also a self-reference to a fictional movie King, Queen, Knave, based on a play by a "Goldemar".
Film adaptation
A film adaptation, directed by Jerzy SkolimowskiJerzy Skolimowski
Jerzy Skolimowski is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début Oko wykol...
and starring Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida
Gina Lollobrigida is an Italian actress, photojournalist and sculptress. She was one of the most popular European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s. She was also an iconic sex symbol of the 1950s. Today, she remains an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, particularly the...
, David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
and John Moulder-Brown, was released in 1972.
External links
- King, Queen, Knave, the movie at the imdb
- A chapter by chapter plot summary