Nabokov & Bakhtin

All throughout middle and high school, my teachers would assign us "show not tell" exercises in order to prepare us for the annual standardized exam. At the time these assignments seemed tedious and pointless, but Nabokov's Natasha exemplifies the importance of such a writing technique. By describing everything in full detail, the reader is able to picture and grasp what is happening in each scene. Just in the beginning when Wolfe is described ascending the stairs, there is a vivid image of how this man moves and carries himself; the ailing Khrenov gropes and creaked and breathes heavily. The description of the lake and countryside where Wolfe and Natasha spend their day is so clear and could also seem somewhat romantic. Wolfe, Natasha, and Khrenov's personalities are not explicitly stated by Nabokov, they are revealed through their interactions with each other. When Natasha and Wolfe are sharing their fantasies with each other, their playful and hopeful attitudes are displayed. Their lives are rather uneventful so they fill their minds with fantastic stories. This is an example of what Bakhtin describes as polyphonic writing because the narrator is allowing the characters a chance to describe themselves by having just as much speaking time as the narrator. The heteroglossia is extremely important because it is the way the reader is allowed inside to the characters' persona. Every word they use is specific to their personality. Natasha is young and innocent, while Wolfe is an older gentlemen who possess childlike whimsicalities. Dialogic writing is shown in Burroughs' Naked Lunch between the boy and the Buyer. Words like "cancha" and slang like "get fixed" are connected to the two characters to show the unsophisticated vocabulary of two junkies. Burroughs, as a narrator, disconnects himself from his characters, neither condoning nor condemning the Buyer's behavior but merely stating it as fact.