The Visual Consumption In Lolita By Nabokov

Nabokov’s favorite Lolita is a famous but controversial novel. It is a confessional story of Humbert, a middle-aged man, who chases after his stepdaughter, Lolita. The novel bears some remarkable resemblance to American visual consumer society. The overwhelming images, bright colors and the frequent use of cinematic references and pictorial techniques in the novel are more than enough to examine how Nabokov responds to visual consumption. In fact, no matter how many times Humbert has claimed his love for Lolita, his pursuit of her is just an act of visual consumption which is bitterly criticized by Nabokov. Visual consumption, as an interdisciplinary concept, contains all the visual elements and features which are involved in consumption.The first part of this thesis includes literature review and a brief introduction to visual consumption. Chapter one presents the image-centered visual consumer society in Lolita. People consume with their eyes and seek for visual pleasure. The emphasis is laid on the discussion of how Nabokov reflects this social phenomenon in Lolita and how mass media manage to promote visual consumption as a way of life via images.Chapter two analyzes the omnipresent male gaze in visual consumer society. Treated as a commodity, Lolita is passive to the male gaze throughout the novel. It suggests that the construction and interpretation of female images are under the male gaze. Lolita and Charlotte are unaware of their subordinate roles. Moreover, under the influence and pressure of mass media, they make endless efforts to pursue the standardized fashion and beauty.Chapter three argues that except for the fleeting visual pleasure, a visual consumer obtains nothing but endless depressive disillusion and loss of self. Humbert spends his entire life on Lolita only to find that she is created by his own illusion. Lolita’s perpetual imitation ends up with the loss of self. Visual impact has blurred the distinctions of reality and illusion. If a consumer indulges himself in illusion, he will lose the capacity for rational thinking and simultaneously cannot face the reality.Lolita embodies the key features of visual consumption. By analyzing these features, this thesis discusses the negative influence of visual consumption, including the excessive use of visual elements, the increasing reliance on visual experiences and the conformity caused by the pressure of standardized life. Thus it proves Nabokov’s disapproval of visual consumption.