What role did parody play in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel The Gift?

In Vladimir Nabokov’s novel The Gift, parody serves as a pivotal literary device that marks a turning point in the author's artistic development.1

While the novel primarily chronicles the maturation of a young writer named Fyodor in the émigré community of post-World War I Berlin, its reliance on parody allows Nabokov to explore the nature of art itself through figurative disguises. By incorporating serious use of parody, Nabokov established a key technique that would define his later works, including his mastery of unorthodox structures in novels like Pale Fire and his use of the family chronicle form in Ada.21