Contemporary American Literature

Course 2.3
2
nd
Year American Studies
3
rd
Year English minor
Spring Semester 2011
Prof.dr. odica !ihaila
VLADIMIR NABOKOV (1899-1977)
"#ransition from $ictorian no%el to modernism and from modernism to postmodernism&
Biographical detail rele!a"t to hi #or$%
"E'ilic( cosmopolitan identity anticipating a post"national )orld *li+e ushdie( ,shiguro(
-ere+ .alcott/& 0ermany( 1rance( England( 2S( S)it3erland
"English no%els& Pnin( Lolita *44( 45/ Pale 1ire 1672*postmodern/8 Ada *79/:most
am;itious
Central theme& man<s life in dream or art playing around the edge of reality until the
reality ;urns in unsu;stantial fire *=assan/8 no longer the rel. imagination"reality( ;ut he
transfigures reality until total annihilation.
"A fantasist of the a;solute
"A self"delighting mind *modernist/& the cere;ral >uality *e%en in his e'ploration of
;i33are se'uality/8 prodigious )it and learning *plots tend to ;ecome rare/
"2se of language& the a;surd( parodic patterns of language( play upon )ords
*postmodern/8 emphasis on sound and shape *repetition( alliteration( ?u'taposition( foreign
)ords:modernist/ @ intensely lyrical( )rites ecstatically to transfigure reality.
"Aao+o% re%olts against his ad%ersary ( BhistoryB ( ;y creating an art )hich is against time
Ada or Ardor & A Family Chronicle "1676
- e'plores the incestuous lo%e of a sister and ;rother )ho seem mirror images of each other
throughout their 40 years affair. 1or $an $een ( the ;rother ( the )orldCs ;est fiction
;ecomes the measure of reality. =e fills his chronicle )ith literary illusions ( puns and
multiple perspecti%es to )hich he has the +ey. =is self"proclaimed magnus opus B#he
#e'ture of #imeBis also his )eapon against the passage of time. #hrough him ( Aa;o+o%
not only circum%ents the politically tormented time of his youth and his o)n precarious
e'istence ( ;ut returns to the prere%olutionary literature of Chateau;riand ( 1lau;ert (
#olstoy and Cheho%.
- =is reliance on other literatures connects him to the modernist )riters " Doyce ( Eliot
- A literary allusion " put to different use * to o;scure the present and to replace it ( not to
heighten it /.
Lolita& or the 'o"(eio" o( a )hite )ido#ed Male (*ari ++, -. +8)
"Structure& 1. 1ore)ord ;y Dohn ay( 2 parts *central lo%e story ending in possession8
the )orld of America( L<s disappearance( detecti%e plot of pursuit *crime and punishment//(
Aa;o+o%<s En a Foo+ entitled Lolita @anticipates Pale Fire @metafiction( illusion of the
reader
)hat $i"d o( a "o!el i Lolita/
"#he no%el is li+e a set of essays *ans)ers to >uestions organi3ed in sections/& e'.
Ch.6 in part 2 *156/& L<s friends8 list of school names *ch.11( part 1/
1. ,t ?u'taposes a moral and social story *action( plot/ and a surface or manner or
)ay of telling the story that aesthetici3es the e%ents.
2. A no%el tied to e'treme indi%iduality of point"of"%ie)( and to su;?ecti%ity *no
longer the modernist o;?ecti%ity/& A poi"t-o(-!ie# "o!elGone of the strongest
e'amples in lit. *the story is =<s %ersion and each detail is enchanted and
magically captured in his o)n )ords/8 A retropecti!e "arrati!e o(
0e0or1:!emory su;?ecti%i3es( poetici3es( transfigures the reality )hich is
;anal( coarse( sordid Am of the 40s
3. A no%el lin+ed to language *aestheticism/& descriptions( lists( playHgames. An
alternati%e for the no%el in a culture dominated ;y film as main form of story"
telling and entertainment *See parallel )ith 1it3gerald./
2ro0 reali0 to 0oder"i0 a"d pot0oder"i0
Lolita:a no%el of postmodernist transgression
"the con%entions of the realistic no%el *%eridicityGfor)ard( concrete realm of
e%idence&a/ cars( ta'is( accidents and designs of fate *no rationality li+e in -reiser/8
;/"each part is )ritten li+e an essay( a piece of e%idence to ;e used in a trial .
#ransgressed in a modernist use of language( )it( learning and irony( cere;real
>uality8 and a postmodern use of #AAS0ESS,EA *su;%esion of pre"e'isting
norms( ;rea+ing the la)( central transgression:passion for nymphets/( the a;surd(
parody( e'treme su;?ecti%ity( centrality of 0A!ES( treatment of A#
0A!ES& the game of chess )ith 0aston:central image of plays and games in the no%el
*postmodernist emphasis of li%ing life according to rules( as man<s only freedom( no
possi;ility of change/
"rel. ;et. playing )ith )ords8 playing games8 toying )ith persons
Aethetici0 i" Lolita co0pared #ith 3reat 3at41
elation ;et)een 1,#I0EAL- and AAFEJE$ through Lolita&
";orn in 1567 and 1566( started pu;lishing at a;out the same time(
";oth ?u'tapose a moral and social story *action( plot/ and a surface or manner or )ay of
telling the story that aesthetici3es the e%ents.
";oth ma+e of aestheticism a means of transforming the no%el( ;ut A. represents an e'ilic
identity and the transition to postmodernism( a later moment *died in 1699/
"Aethetici0 & )ith ;oth )riters deals )ith 1./ the Am. -ream *1:corruption( A:al)ays an
illusion( the contrast ;et. the Ae) and the Eld )orlds. Lolita is a comic myth( relation ;et.
place and the heroine suggests that the dream e'isted only in the imagination of the
Europeans. Lolita )as no longer a %irgin/8 and 2/ )ith the contrast imagination"reality&
1it3.:0ats;y lost the capacity of )onder8 Aa;o+o%:only the Europeans imagined the dream.
#here is no dream.
"aestheticism is manifested in different forms& 1. transformed the no%el into a %isuali3ed film
script& locations( stars( costumes( scene to scene progress *the glamour of =olly)ood @ in
1629 he ;ecame a script")riter in =./8 A. aestheticism lin+ed to language& his no%el is an
alternati%e for the no%el )ithin a culture )here film is the dominant form of story"telling and
entertainment *the no%el is tied to e'treme su;?ecti%ity of memory/Ga su;?ecti%ity ne%er
achie%ed in filmGa camera loo+s o;?ecti%ely( records perceptions
"contrast throughout the no%el& ;et)een the game ;et)een Kuilty and
=umpert )ith the games that =umpert plays )ith Lolita
A#& is also a game( has ar;itrary rules *the no%el: a ;oard on )hichL/
Lin+ ;et)een art"freedom"play. =omo ludens* man at play/ his freedom is M+no)ing
the rulesN

Conclusion& #ransition from !odernism to Postmodernism&
"from stream of consciousness to su;?ecti%ity of memory
"from modernist aestheticism through language to a ludic >uality *games/
"from mythic synthesis to comic myth *irony( self"irony to parodic transgression/
"from art as o;?ecti%e( autonomous to art as play8 from impersonality to metafiction
Postmodernist transgression and su;%ersion of pre"e'isting cultural norms