An Interpretation of Cloud, Castle, Lake from the Perspective of Bakhtin's Chronotope Theory

Cloud, Castle, Lake is one of the representative short stories by Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov. The work has garnered academic attention and discussion for its unique narrative structure and profound thematic depth. The story follows the journey of Vasiliy, an exile, who seeks spiritual solace through the interplay of memory and reality, yet ultimately fails to escape the constraints of his circumstances. Scholars have analyzed the novel from perspectives including exile literature, memory narrative, and existential struggles. This thesis applies Bakhtin's Chronotope Theory to explore the protagonist's survival dilemmas in a heterogeneous culture and his pursuit of an idealized existence by interpreting the closed chronotope, the path chronotope, and the idyllic chronotope within the story. Through an analysis of the metaphorical significance of these chronotopes, the thesis reveals Vasiliy's struggle between memory and reality.