Imagination And Conversion

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary semiotic research in the general program of foreign linguistics and applied linguistics.It takes a Lotmanian cultural semiotic perspective on literary texts composed of artistic language to interpret Nabokov's novels,affording an analysis of the unique meaning-regenerating mechanism in these novels and attempting a semiotics-based interpretive route for classic literary texts.In the same vein as the "sign-text-culture-semiosphere" progression in the cultural semiotic theories of Yuri Lotman(1922-1993),this dissertation chooses four representative novels of Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov(1899-1977),Mary,Laughter in the Dark,Invitation to a Beheading,and Lolita,as the subject matters to carry out a progressive exploration of the meaning-regenerating mechanism of literary texts on the three different levels of text,culture and semiosphere.Recognized as a distinguished novelist,translator and literary artist,Nabokov was a pioneer figure in the massive landscape of the 20th century literature,a representative of the immigrant literature,and an archetype of culture conversion.An itinerant life,diverse cultural contexts,and extensive hobbies shaped Nabokov's unique artistic style,manifest in both his personality and his writings,which not only accentuate the contrast and integration between European literature and American literature,but also reflect the distinction and dialogue between European culture and American culture.Given the difficulties and complexity in studying Nabokov,it is imperative to adopt such an open and integrative methodology as cultural semiotics to better interpret this highly intercultural and multidimensional author as well as his multilevel,multilingual text.It is Yuri Lotman's theory of meaning regeneration that can shed a perfect light on such an author as Nabokov,who constantly traverses the boundaries of race,culture,language,and identity.Lotman points out that signs form texts,which form cultures,and cultures form semiospheres.These four compose a multilevel compound system.According to Lotman,it is precisely at the different levels of the system that the literary text serves its most important function,that is to generate new meanings,as an open and dynamic meaning-regenerating mechanism.This dissertation follows the progressive sequence of text,culture,and semiosphere in dealing with Nabokov's novels.On the level of texts,using Lotman's theory on texts,this dissertation explores the rhetoric device and the detail descriptions in the four novels,analyzes how Nabokov provokes new semantic connections by exploiting the asymmetry between coding and decoding of different languages within a text,how he uses inequivalent translation to stimulate the readers'imagination,and how he uses meticulously detailed descriptions and coherence to stimulate the readers to explore,imagine,connect,and finally complete the reverse generation of meaning.On the level of culture,this dissertation uses Lotman's semiotics of cinema to not only explore how Nabokov introduces film culture and expressions into the creation of this four novels,but also analyze how the author,through a cinematic method of color,time and space,montage,enhances the visual effects of the novels,expands the space for interpretation,stirs the readers to imagine,enabling them to break the shackles of two different types of texts and completing the conversion and generation of meaning.On the level of semiosphere,this dissertation uses Lotman's theory of semiosphere to comb through the vicissitudes in Nabokov's life and literary creation,and explore the influence of semiospheric boundary crossing on both the creation of Nabokov's novels and the generation of text meaning by analyzing his constant boundary traversing between different races,cultures,languages,and identities,as well as his continuous movement between the center and edge of different semiopheres.Through the above analysis on three levels,this dissertation confirms the important role of imagination and conversion in the process of meaning generation and uncovers the unique meaning regenerating-mechanism in Nabokov's novels.From the use of rhetorical and cinematic device,as well as the dialogues and collisions between diverse cultures in the novels,it can be seen that the purpose of Nabokov's creation is neither to compose an unchanging work,nor to reflect the social life of his time,but to stimulate the readers' imagination,promote multilingual and multicultural conversions in the readers' minds,expand the interpretive space of the text,and enable constant meaning regeneration of the text through the complex construction of the text,the conflicts and dialogues between cultures,and the traverses and integration between semiospheres.The regeneration of meaning of the text is perpetual and developmental,and there is no fixed or ultimate meaning.Interpreting literary creation from the semiotic perspective may afford new insights into the task of literary criticism,that is,literary interpretation is not intended to give a clear definition of the subject matter,but to give dynamic and diverse interpretations of the subject matter.The task of literary criticism is not only to understand the subject matter,but also to explore more interpretive routes improving the readers' abilities of text appreciation,problem solving and critical thinking.