Exile in Theatre/Theatre in exile -: Nabokov's early plays, 'Trragediia Gospodina Morna' and 'Chelovek iz SSSR'

This article examines two little known early plays by Vladimir Nabokov, Tragediia Gospodina Morna (written 1923-24) and Chelovek iz SSSR (written 1926). It argues that to both plays, Nabokov conceives of the two-fold reality of the stage as a reflection of the exilic co-existence between a physical 'here and now' and an imaginary 'somewhere else'. These plays therefore foreshadow the close link between theatrical performance and the co-existence of different worlds in Nabokov's later plays and in many of his thoroughly theatrical novels.