''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses
''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses ''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses
- 104 - on the picture of someone who is said to resemble Humbert closely, is seen to be laden with irony. The passage is a good example of how quite inconspicuous references have a greater and deeper significance than is at first apparent. In various ways they reflect on the individual scenes in which they occur, on the persons and their characters and peculiarities, sometimes on the whole novel. In one way or another they all add illuminating aspects to it and give depth to Humbert's narrative through the implications they carry. Some out of the many will be commented on in the appropriate places. Nor is Humbert's use of parody limited to the playful handling of the words and stylistic devices of other authors, to the borrowing and insertion into his narrative of quotations from their works, and to the parodistic imitation of their characteristic manners and mannerisms. It extends so far as to embrace whole literary genres as well as individual works: the confessional mode and the literary diary, the literary death scene, the Doppelgänger tale, and the tale of ratiocination; Dostoevski's Notes from Underground, Poe's Annabel Lee, his William Wilson, and the ideas of his Philosophy of Composition. 14 This overall use of parody does not wholly account for the peculiar effect of Lolita. Nor does the fact that a serious tale emerges from behind the comic surface formed by the parodies and incongruities just listed suffice to explain things. This happens in all of Nabo- kov's novels, and yet Lolita affects the reader in a way which is different from that in which most of the other novels affect him. Into the amusement caused by the comic
- 105 - surface, into the initial moral shock, and into the serious emotions evoked by the sadness behind it all, there enters also a feeling of profound uneasiness, even of exasperation, sometimes exceeding the amusement, sometimes giving way to it, but never taking over or dis- appearing altogether. Humbert Humbert himself provides the word that best characterizes his and Lolita's story and which explains this phenomenon when he calls their journey across the United States "our grotesque journey" (224). Most of the comic scenes and descriptions of his memoir - parodistical, or farcical, or absurd, or all at once - also have a touch of the grotesque about them, and they all add up to create an overall grotesque effect. Briefly stated, the grotesque comes into existence by "the unresolved clash of incompatibles in work and response. "15 It may simply be "the co-presence of the laughable and something which is incompatible with the 16 laughable" in the subject matter that causes a twofold reaction. In other cases something disgusting or hor- rible or gruesome, or, in general terms: something which is definitely not comic in itself, is presented in a comic manner. In such cases disgust or horror are evoked on the one hand, and on the other hand those reactions which are incompatible with them, namely amusement and laughter, and with them a feeling of indignation or exasperation because the manner will be felt to be wholly unsuitable to the matter. 17 It is the essential characteristic of the grotesque that the conflict between the incompatibles should not be re-
- Page 59 and 60: - 53 - tearing the banknote into li
- Page 61 and 62: - 55 - have before: after the suici
- Page 63 and 64: - 57 - imagination of Gretchen best
- Page 65 and 66: - 59 - deed been through an experie
- Page 67 and 68: - 61 - there must be some "model" a
- Page 69 and 70: - 63 - P NI N In their appreciation
- Page 71 and 72: - 65 - For the sake of convenience
- Page 73 and 74: - 67 - Pnin's appearance is comic,
- Page 75 and 76: - 69 - all-the time. He suffers an
- Page 77 and 78: - 71 - existence" (13). In his pres
- Page 79 and 80: - 73 - is going to give, on his per
- Page 81 and 82: - 75 - exist in such big sea" (60).
- Page 83 and 84: - 77 - directly from Pnin's peculia
- Page 85 and 86: - 79 - them at least 10ok like his
- Page 87 and 88: - 81 - indeed only the very thinnes
- Page 89 and 90: - 83 - but the group of academics w
- Page 91 and 92: - 85 - "schools and trends", and is
- Page 93 and 94: - 87 - which induces the reader to
- Page 95 and 96: - 89 - and-smiles at, there emerges
- Page 97 and 98: - 91 - More depth and reality are a
- Page 99 and 100: - 93 - cp. 180). The narrator also
- Page 101 and 102: 95 - being accurate in every point,
- Page 103 and 104: - 97 - standing of a "truly human b
- Page 105 and 106: - 99 - eternal beauty, and his conv
- Page 107 and 108: - 101 - One luckless early critic w
- Page 109: - 103 - says "well-read" Humbert Hu
- Page 113 and 114: - 107 - age. She was the "initial g
- Page 115 and 116: - 109 - and implies in the parody t
- Page 117 and 118: - 111 - He is equally inaccurate in
- Page 119 and 120: - 113 - with Quilty; and, of course
- Page 121 and 122: - 115 - or to hold her on his knee
- Page 123 and 124: - 117 - ations ) (98). And he descr
- Page 125 and 126: - 119 - a strident, harsh high voic
- Page 127 and 128: - 121 - When Humbert talks of his d
- Page 129 and 130: - 123 -- could victimize her poor d
- Page 131 and 132: - 125 - this twelve-year-old girl s
- Page 133 and 134: - 127 - done her morning duty" (161
- Page 135 and 136: - 129 - experience, up to a certain
- Page 137 and 138: - 131 - her: "... -a life full of t
- Page 139 and 140: - 133 - Looking at it for a moment
- Page 141 and 142: - 135 - and Axel Rex delightful. Bu
- Page 143 and 144: - 137 - critics have made her, and
- Page 145 and 146: - 139 - not record images of the sy
- Page 147 and 148: - 141 - ous hallucination" (287). 6
- Page 149 and 150: - 143 - No hereafter is acceptable
- Page 151 and 152: - 145 - be possible for him to be t
- Page 153 and 154: - 147 - and it is also appropriate
- Page 155 and 156: - 149 - But Humbert's view of Lolit
- Page 157 and 158: - 151 - the truth of the theory dev
- Page 159 and 160: - 153 - part of it. Even with the i
-<br />
105 -<br />
surface, into the initial moral shock, and into the serious<br />
emotions evoked by the sadness behind it all, there<br />
enters also a feeling of profound uneasiness, even of<br />
exasperation, sometimes exceeding the amusement, sometimes<br />
giving way to it, but never taking over or dis-<br />
appearing<br />
altogether.<br />
Humbert Humbert himself provides the word that best<br />
characterizes his and Lolita's story and which explains<br />
this phenomenon when he calls their journey across the<br />
United States "our grotesque journey" (224). Most of<br />
the comic scenes and descriptions of his memoir - parodistical,<br />
or farcical, or absurd, or all at once -<br />
also have a touch of the grotesque about them, and they<br />
all add up to create an overall grotesque effect.<br />
Briefly stated, the grotesque comes into existence<br />
by "the unresolved clash of incompatibles in work and<br />
response. "15 It may simply be "the co-presence of the<br />
laughable and something which is incompatible with the<br />
16<br />
laughable" in the subject matter that causes a twofold<br />
reaction. In other cases something disgusting or hor-<br />
rible or gruesome, or,<br />
in<br />
general terms: something<br />
which is definitely not comic in itself, is presented<br />
in a comic manner. In such cases disgust or horror are<br />
evoked on the one hand, and on the other hand those<br />
reactions which are incompatible with them, namely<br />
amusement and laughter, and with them a feeling of indignation<br />
or exasperation because the manner will be<br />
felt to be wholly unsuitable to the matter.<br />
17<br />
It<br />
is<br />
the essential characteristic of the grotesque that the<br />
conflict between the incompatibles<br />
should not be re-
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