A Review of Vladimir Nabokov’s “Scenes From the Life of a Double Monster.”
by
Ron W.
Synopsis: A first-person account of being a conjoined twin in rural
Character: Nabokov develops the story through the richly observant “Floyd,” one
of the conjoined twins. Floyd contemplates both his own psychological state as well
as that of those that come into his life. Nabokov’s skill at fleshing out these details –
as when young Floyd considers the shadow cast by another little boy as incomplete
and abnormal – is breath-taking. Conversely, the character development of Floyd’s
twin-brother Lloyd is rudimentary, which I think is exactly the way Nabokov intends
it. In fact, the brothers rarely even speak to one another. In a sense this is a testament
to Floyd’s individuality. He is almost dispassionate about his condition except to the
extent that the condition elicits certain behaviors from those close to him. The other
characters in the story are generally drawn as crassly mercenary family members
out to exploit the twins for profit. Essentially, we see them stripped down to what the
essentially mean to the twins in a practical sense: They are projections of childhood
memories in gross terms. Children do not see things subtly, I think, but Nabokov
creates a sense of subtlety by filtering these gross memories through the refined mind
of the adult Floyd.
Theme: The theme of Nabokov’s story is clearly that freedom and individuality are
consistently suppressed by social and familial constraints. His use of allegory and
metaphor drives the theme home. After all, what can say more about the nature of
freedom than exploring the theme through the eyes of a conjoined twin? For instance,
at one point the family cook, in a fit of pity for the boys, picks up a knife and declares
she will cut the glob of flesh that joins the. She is stopped by grandfather and uncle,
who exhibit the boys for profit and don’t want to see their source of income destroyed.
This even leads Floyd to begin contemplating what it would be like to be free of his
twin brother. He imagines climbing fences and visiting the sea-shore, which he can hear
but is never allowed to visit. The sea is a classic literary metaphor for freedom and
Nabokov uses it again, as the boys make their way awkwardly toward the sound of the
sea – their first venture beyond the gates of the house. Instead of making it to the seashore, however, a greedy uncle meets them in a buggy at the road and whisks them away, and the boys spend the next twenty years as carnival freaks.
Oddly, Nabokov gives us no indication at how (or even if) the boys ever attain
any semblance of freedom, as Floyd is simply narrating this story at the prompting of
a physician. In the end, all that Floyd can say about his life is that his most vivid
memory is their aborted dash to the sea. It’s almost as if Nabokov doesn’t believe
in “freedom” as such. It seems that he considers it an illusory concept and the fact that
the story additionally takes place in a gloomy, repressive
era is also nicely evocative. It’s as if Nabokov has created a thematic-layer cake: each
layer of oppression overlaying the next in a freedom-stifling blanket over these unique
protagonists.
Dialog: Nabokov uses Floyd’s narration as the exclusive dialog of the story; there are
no quotations of other characters. The net effect evokes a voice of a resigned, lonesome
individual – lonesome in spite of having the constant companionship of a conjoined
twin. One example of Floyd’s remarkably succinct yet poetic dialog is his summation
of his and Lloyd’s situation:
Each was eminently normal, but together they formed a monster. Indeed, it is
strange to think that the presence of a mere band of tissue, a flap of flesh not much
longer than a lamb’s liver, should be able to transform joy, pride, tenderness, adoration,
gratitude to God into horror and despair.
It is interesting to note that Floyd slips into the third-person here in this description
of he and his brother as infants. This effectively conveys Floyd’s sense of detachment
(perhaps as a defense mechanism?). This passage is also filled with vigorously considered language that evokes a sense of rustic/rural sensibility with the reference
to the “lamb’s liver,” that is tempered with the indication that Floyd has achieved
some education, in spite of his circumstances.
Setting: As discussed under the “theme” heading, the setting of Nabokov’s story is one
of the spot-on layers which represent the barriers faced by Floyd in his quest for
freedom (of one kind or another). The setting is rural
walls of a rundown farmhouse in which the twins are not allowed to travel beyond.
The sounds of the sea, however, are within earshot. It is this juxtaposition of the freedom
represented by the sea and both the real and metaphoric barriers of this rural
household.
Details: It is in the details of the piece that Nabokov is able to use Floyd’s voice to
great effect in evoking a strong sense of mood and intelligence.
In describing the Uncle: Crafty, dark, ambitious, unprincipled little man!
On the kidnapping: Again and again I run it before my eyes like a strip of cinematic film, as I have seen jugglers do when reviewing their acts (…) But, alas, there was nobody to greet us there save that worried crook, our nervous kidnapper, a small doll-faced man wearing cheap spectacles, one glass of which was doctored with a bit of tape.
The tiny details here really flesh out the entire story. The “bit of tape,” and so on,
are Nabokov’s masterstrokes that paint this remarkable tapestry. It is to his credit that
he succeeds so masterfully and creating this complete world in such a short form.