The Cruel Theme In Nabokov’s Novels

The academic articles have been studying Nabokov’s novels for a long time,and the results are vast.But it is puzzling that few scholars at at home and abroad have linked Nabokov’s Lectures on Don Quixote with cruel themes in his novels.Therefore,this thesis starts from Lectures on Don Quixote and analyzes what Nabokov’s cruel refers to through careful reading of the text,and discusses the cruel theme in Invitation to Beheading and Lolita.The specific chapters of the thesis are arranged as follows.First,the introduction.This paper mainly discusses the research background and significance of the selected topic,summarizes Nabokov’s research status,and briefly demonstrates that there is a cruel theme in Nabokov’s novles.The first chapter mainly starts with Lectures of Don Quixote,and analyzes what Nabokov’s cruelty means.First,humor as a cruel way of showing.Nabokov believed that Cervantes tried to provoke readers to laugh wildly by torturing Don Quixote’s body and spirit.Second,deception is a cruel way of showing.Nabokov condemned the deceitful tricks of the evil magicians represented by the duke and his wife as immoral.The second chapter mainly analyzes how Nabokov writes cruel humor in his own novels.Nabokov created a two-layered narrative structure,with humor on the surface and cruelty on the bottom: humor may make cruelty more unbearable,but it may also become "ecstasy" like the humor in Don Quixote."Medicine" makes readers temporarily forget the cruelty of a scene in the laughter.The former possibility appears in The Invitation to Beheading,and the latter possibility appears in Lolita.Chapter Three discusses how deception exists as a cruel way of expression in Nabokov’s novels.In The Invitation to Beheading,Pierre and others use Cincinnatis’ desire for the free world to play tricks on him,so that he ignites hope again and again,and experiences despair again and again.Humbert in Lolita is both a deceived and a liar.When he was deceived,he felt furious,but he still deceived others with contentment.Finally,the author analyzes Nabokov’s promise to the world beyond for those cruelly treated in his writings.This other world is the sanctuary of the art mentioned by Humbert in Lolita,and in The Invitation to Beheading it transforms into the direction Cincinnatis heads in the dust.Readers can’t see the exact appearance of the world beyond what Nabokov said,but they can be sure that literature and art are the way to there.This article believes that both Nabokov’s interpretation of Don Quixote and his novel creation are laying out his aversion to cruelty,and he is trying to outline a cruelty-free world to place those pity roles.