A Narrative Study Of Vladimir Nabokov's Works

Vladimir Nabokov is a famous contemporary Russian-born American writer. In his literary achievement, great contributions to the creative narrative strategy could never be ignored. Literary works Despair and Lolita attract many readers for their unique narrative style. In the literature review, the status of Nabokovian studies focused on the theme, the post-modern and mocking writing style is reviewed. Systematic narrative study is less probed into and fewer comparative narrative studies are done. In this paper, narrative theories will be applied to present the systematic analysis of the two novels and further demonstrate Nabokov's excellent narrative strategy.The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter generally introduces the writer's life and literary works. The second chapter brings in the theory of narratology. Chapter three analyzes the narrative features of first-person narration to probe into the unreliable narrator in Despair and Lolita. In the fourth chapter, narrative discourse is systematically analyzed. First, the"if…then"structure is explored. Nabokov does not interpret the story as simple"storytelling", and the readers are involved in"storytelling". With this structure, Nabokov gives his readers crucial clues to let them step deep into the hearts of narrators and uncover the truth. And during this process Nabokov places a very high demand on the readers. Second, by confessional and symbolic foreshadowing, the story is developed and the readers are led to follow closely the author's footsteps. Third, by modal verbs, Nabokov deliberately casts a hazy veil on the text and makes the text filled with possibilities. Finally, Nabokov conducts displaced center of narration. Plot is well-acknowledged as the center of narration, however, Nabokov places details as clues in the center. The fifth chapter is the conclusion of the thesis.In view of Despair and Lolita, Nabokov states the exploratory nature of the story which strengthens the participation of the reader. Simultaneously, various narrative techniques are applied to attract the readers to actively join in the fact-finding process. Nabokov's narrative skill enriches the application of narrative strategy, and his works are typical representatives of literary carnivalization.