![]() This magical, if hardly fair, exchange can be observed in "Spring in Fialta.” The first part of the article traces the русалка -mermaid watermark through Nabokov's creative work. As if in return for such an arrangement of circumstances, Nabokov’s mermaid-like woman is granted a brief access to the otherworldly dimension, which she in turn feminizes and charges with her presence. In the best tradition of the Russian mermaid fairy-tales and films, she seems to have traded her voice for human form in order to be close to her beloved, but, misunderstood and unable to fit in his world of mortals, she ends up leaving forever, as he mourns the loss of his one chance at happiness. Barely trusted with any lines, not to mention internal monologues, she is essentially mute. Presented through the nostalgic prism of her absence, Nabokov's heroine is a poetic vessel of a male character’s journey. ![]()
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