The Influence Of Nabokov On Chinese Contemporary Writers

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov is an unavoidable fountainhead of Chinese literature in the new period of China.With his unique literary ideas and dazzling techniques,Nabokov has brought a revolutionary impact on the Chinese contemporary literature.Contemporary writers especially in the late 20 th century,grown up under the nourishment and cultivation of western literature of modernism and postmodernism,all have benefited from Nabokov's literary heritage directly or indirectly.His great influence,specifically speaking,is chiefly reflected in the transformation on literary concepts and literary creation.Grounded on the acknowledgement of his great impact,this thesis delves further into Chinese contemporary writers' acceptation,succession,and re-creation of Nabokov's literary legacy,thereby unraveling the due ethnic characteristics in contemporary Chinese literature.Deploying the methods of influence study and parallel study in comparative literature,this thesis attempts an exploration on the influence of Nabokov on Chinese contemporary writers,particularly in their literary practice since the new era of China.Instead of comparing Nabokov with some Chinese contemporary writers simply and respectively,this thesis spins around several key concepts,such as Nabokov's unique literary thoughts,narrative techniques,and language style,to weave a comprehensive framework.Under such a thematic framework,this thesis not only embraces incisive discussions in detail,but also grasps the traces of Nabokov's influence from a macro perspective.This thesis mainly consists of three parts: introduction,main body,and conclusion.The first part briefly introduces Nabokov's life experience,his unique position in the history of world literature,as well as his immense influence on Chinese literature in the new era.And the research on Nabokov and his works athome.The main body of the thesis is constituted by four chapters.The first chapter teases out the translation,communication,and reception of Nabokov in China since1980 s.The impact of Nabokov's masterpiece Lolita(1955)on Chinese contemporary writers too is specified in this part.Revolving around the four elements,namely,the world,writers,works,readers' literary activities,the influence of Nabokov's literary concepts on Chinese contemporary writers is under discussion in Chapter Two.“Great novels”,for Nabokov,“are above all great fairy tales”.There is a sense of heterogeneity between fiction and reality in literature.And a writer,in his view,combines “storyteller,teacher,enchanter” together,therefore,the novel is a new world created by writers.Moreover,he regards writing as “composing riddles with elegant solutions" rather than a moralistic lesson and thinks highly of the encounter between excellent writers and excellent readers.Obviously,the literary ideas of Nabokov can be traced in those of Chinese writers'.Beginning with the transformation of novel creation,the third chapter digs into the literary inspiration,chiefly fulfilled in creative themes,narrative strategies and language style,enlightened and sparkled by Nabokov,on Chinese contemporary writers.Chapter Four illuminates the reasons that Nabokov has been widely accepted and absorbed in the contemporary literary world since the new period of China,thereby ruminating his value and significance in China in the process of acceptance.Finally,the epilogue reinforces the profound influence of Nabokov on Chinese contemporary writers both in literary concepts and in practice.It is worthy to point out that Chinese contemporary writers apply themselves both to absorb the beneficial elements of foreign literature and simultaneously,as a creative subject,to seek the coherence point between two developing contexts,namely,globalization and localization,so as to promote Chinese literature to the world literature,step by step.