On Matters of Polyphony and the Dreamed Reality
The idea that a novel can be crafted through an “art of distance” can be seen in the works of authors like Dostoevsky and Nabokov. To some, creating this distance may seem a contradicting tactic to the completion of a story. Yet, life is riddled with contradictions and it is only through a distance of our explorations that we can truly see its purpose. The intermingling of the human “floating” consciousnesses seems to exist only through language. The individual Interpretation of language leaves no room for finding a final conclusion.
Bakhtin, in his essay "On The Novel” explores an author’s ability to create "a plurality of independent and unmerged voices and consciousnesses” where the characters of a novel organize and explain them. This is a major element of “Polyphony.” The term Polyphony has been morphed to fit a literary style of writing, though it was established in the context of music. It is defined as “the combination of a number of separate but harmonizing melodies.”
Our internal thoughts, once expressed in conversation, can be related to faint flicker of a candle. The rays that travel from our wick become scattered in spaces, disconnected by the shadows that echo its path of illumination. The eyes see only the patches of light that it wants to see, and like the allure of a burning fire, we can’t help from staring. The candles flicker blurs a true focus, however, and its intangible totality is a mystery we are constantly deconstructing. Being able to only see one part of the spectrum, the human mind cannot help but color it a fantasy.
The short story “Natasha” by Nabokov, captivates this idea of polyphony in literature, quite beautifully. The story seems simple, but is infused with elements of externalizations of inner life, expatriates and misfits, thwarted desire, irony, nature unfolding and instructing, failure with a light-hearted touch. It follows not only one consciousness, but all three of the characters melodies that by the end flow together to create a singular conscious in harmony.
Natasha, even while nursing and caring for her father with utmost sincerity, is quite attuned to "the warmth of her own body, her long thighs, and her bare arms..." She is lost in a world of her own construction, one part the physical realness of her external reality, the other illusion. Wolfe, too, lives in his own fantasy world. In the expression of his conscious thoughts he admits he may be living in a make believe reality. After reading the story I couldn’t help but confront the following questions: Is it really that simple to decide who inhabits a true reality and whose life is fictional? Is one man's insignificant life less complete because he merely dreams?
In Nabokov’s juxtaposition of contrasting themes, is the character of Natasha’s father, who is bed-ridden, ill and almost dying, seems to be the most in touch with reality. He pays attention to people's movements, and presumably, to their feelings as well. He is obsessed with the world outside that can come to his bedside only by newspaper. His persona is one of a cynic, bitter and void of a present fantasy, left shuffling in long gone fantastical memories. Though he plays the counterpart to the free bird Natasha, their consciousnesses may meld together to emphasize a duality of human thought.
William Burroughs, too, has a way of cluttering segmented and various poetic images to create an essence of a singular consciousness. The reader may be left with a general sense of totality through such innovative authors that operate within these boundaries of polyphony. However, at the end of Nabokov’s work I found no set conclusion. Instead I was left with the task of piecing bits together from the authors intended distance, unable to stop asking more and more questions.
