Aphrodite In The Forest

As a versatile writer,Nabokov's works indicate his ideology on literature and life through depicting females of different ages with different characteristics but all of them suffer a lot.Laughter in the dark and Lolita express Nabokov's thinking toward gender relationship hidden in his works.Due to Nabokov's elaborate description of female images,many scholars consider him as a misogynist.Scholars home and abroad have done much study on his works from the perspectives of ethics,aesthetics and post-modernism.But there remains much work undone in the research on gender relations in his works.Moreover,there is little discussion about his view on women.This thesis aims to interpret body politics in Laughter in the Dark and Lolita in the light of Millet's theory of sexual politics and Foucault's theory of power and discourse to show how individual's body is disciplined in consumer society;and how the individual molds power of discourse to find their own awareness and win freedom.Simultaneously the thesis discusses the dual identity of the female body from the perspective of Baudrillard's theory of consumer society.It argues that female body is,on the one hand,"materialized"and"symbolized"as a"sex"object to serve men,but it turns out that women win right to speak and get self-liberation with the charm of body on the other hand.In these two works,the combination of charming love and beauty of Margot and Lolita,just as the epitome of Aphrodite's,makes themselves disciplined and consumed by men.However,they still pursue their body freedom and power of discourse.This research explores how women get rid of the control of political power using their bodies,thus turning to be autonomous subjects from disciplined and materialized objects in consumer society.Accordingly,the significance lies in its deep comprehension over the interaction and reversal among power,discourse and sexuality.It is also hoped that this research explains Nabokov's dialectical gender view and provides an enlightenment for how to construct equal gender relations and promote social harmonious development in the modern consumer society.This paper is separated into four parts.Firstly,it gives a brief introduction to the literary status of Nabokov and his works Laughter in the Dark and Lolita.And after literature review on these two novels,the significance and framework of this thesis are made clear.This thesis proceeds to present the theoretical basis including Baudrillard's theory of consumer society,Kate Millet's theory of sexual politics and Foucault's theory of power and discourse.Secondly,based on these theories,this thesis explores how women fight for their power of discourse through bodies which causes men's vain control over women's body but helps women find their self-salvation of their bodies under consumer society through revolt and insistence.In these two novels,Albinus's and Humbert's crazy possession and control over Margot and Lolita make women's body disciplined but lead to men's predicament.Thirdly,the catalyst of consumer society prompts women's self-awareness.With the help of female body consciousness,women have reconstructed the gender relations in the modern society.In these two novels,Margot and Lolita are not only the victims of patriarchy but also self-rescuers.Finally,it comes to conclusion,which further shows Nabokov's dialectical gender view and his call for a harmonious and free gender relations.