The Characteristics Of Detective Literature In Nabokov's Fictions

Because of Lolita and many countries'living experience, Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977) was recogonized as a legendary writer. Nabokov's reading experience had great relationships with detective story. He read a lot of books written by Conan Doyle and Allan Poe, and all his works contain the components of detective literature. This paper analysed the characteristics of detective literature in Nabokov's fictions and summed up the characteristics into three categories, which including the uncertainty of characters'identity, murdering as artworks, the parody of detective fictions, and exceeding of parody. The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Despair ,and Pale fire was selected as three representatives to analyse. Each novel takes on various detective novel's chacteristics, and one typical trait of each novel was discussed to make clear Nabokov's characteristics of detective literature.The part of introduction packed up American, Russian, and Chinese studies about Nabokov. Mostly, these studies focused on the forms, topics, postmodernism, cross-cultural and inter-ethnic issues of Nabokov's works, but the systemic studies on components of detective literature in Nabokov's fictions were relatively few. In chapter 1, based on the character of replacement from solving mysteries to searching identity in The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, the principal characters of detective fiction style were analysed; Comparing the mysteries of detective fictions with the mysteries of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight ----"Who is Sebastian?", it is concluded that maybe Sebastian is author's elder brother, or author himself. The character of one person having two roles appears in lots of novels. In this novel, searching identity is more valuable than solving mysteries. In chapter 2, relying on the main polt of detective fiction——murdering, variety in Nabokov's writing of traditional detective fiction's murdering was analysed. First, murdering is regarded as an artwork by Herrmann in Despair; Second, real murdering is replaced by imaginary murdering by Humbert In the first novel, murdering motive is for money, and Murdering motive of the second novel is for love. Along with the murdering in King,Queen,Knave, all these chances make Nabokov have enough opportunities to show his artifice and details.In chapter 3, Pale fire which has the character of hyper text was analysed,.. This novel break up the detective fiction's rules from the perspective of dualism of character's identity, openness of structure, and readers as a detective. This novel constructed the story borrowing from detective fiction, but at the same time, narrative principles of detective fiction was parodied and rebelled, and the principle of logos in detective novel was denied by agnosticism of Nabokov..So the novel takes on the elite and popular aesthetic effects.In fictioneering, usiing exploratory plot of detective fiction as a springboard, Nabokov exhibited his ability of catching and depicting details accurately, and it is Nabokov's"intricate enchantement and deception".