ИСТИНА

The plot of V. Nabokov’s “Invitation to a Beheading” is based on a dream or hallucination story. Archetypical models produce the structure and images of this text. The space semantically goes back to the Gothic novel, the horror novel: fortress walls, towers, endless articulated corridors, stairs to nowhere ... A few characters correlate with the well-known archetypes: The Great Mother and Anima (Marthe, Cecilia C., and Emmie); impersonations of the power of the Father (jailers Rodion and Rodrigo Ivanovich), as well as conductors of Death, assistants, mediators, lawyer and executioner (Roman Vissarionovich and Monsieur Pierre). The victim hero (fire hybrist) Cincinnatus C. has a series of allusions to the Christ the Savior. Despite the sharp controversy between Nabokov and psychoanalysts (mostly with Freud), many of his texts successfully fit into psychoanalytic methods.