Rhetorical Questions In And Bleak House By Nabokov

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Rhetorical Question & Hypophora: Nabokov uses rhetorical questions extensively in his third paragraph. He asks, “Can we expect to glean information about places and times from a novel? Can anybody be so naive as to think he or she can learn anything about the past from those buxom best-sellers that are hawked around by book clubs under the heading of historical novels?” He continues with more questions until he ends with the use of hypophora, “And Bleak House, that fantastic romance within a fantastic London, can we call it a study of London a hundred years ago? Certainly not. And the same holds for other such novels in this series” (3). Nabokov does this in order to have his students think deeper about what fiction is compared to literature

He then says that there was a “go-between” between the situation of the wolf when it was actually there and when it was a lie. This go-between was literature. Nabokov returns to this story and says, “the magic of art was in the shadow of the wolf that he deliberately invented” (13). Nabokov is trying to say that imagination creates literature while still being true to the time. Nabokov does this to further show his purpose. It allows his audience to better understand his message and to see how he thinks literature is made. They can more easily understand his purpose and agree with

After his introduction, Nabokov asks multiple rhetorical questions followed by a hypophora. He then continues his lecture by elaborating on his answer to the questions. He also introduces section by saying, “We should ponder the question how does the mind work when the sullen reader is confronted by the sunny book” (7). Once again, Nabokov follows this with an explanation of his answer. He does this again when he asks, “So what is the authentic instrument to be used by the reader? It is impersonal imagination and artistic delight” (9). He uses this hypophora to introduce his topic of the paragraph before elaborating upon the answer to the question. Nabokov then transitions into talking about the qualities of a writer. He starts this section by giving the story about the boy and wolf and then relating it literature. He then relates literature and fiction to nature. He also specifically mentions three qualities of writers: “a storyteller, a teacher, and an enchanter” (14). He then explains each type, and ends with saying which is most important and explaining why. This structure allows him to more easily organize his thoughts. It also allows his audience to better understand his lecture. It separates talking about two different people, the reader and the writer. It also allows for the audience’s questions to be asked as well as answered within the lecture. Nabokov is able to explain why