The Cinematic Elements In Vladimir Nabokov's Fiction

Vladimir Nabokov's popularity as a premier experimental novelist, translator and acknowledged bilingual literary critic in the late twentieth century has spawned countless books and journals during the past and present decades. His legendary life adventure and characteristic writing style magnetizes not only literary critics but also ordinary readers all around the world. His novels are compared to the kaleidoscope whose changeable patterns first perplex its readers and then amaze them after being viewed for a second or a third time. As a matter of fact, Nabokov applies a variety of experimental writing techniques so as to generate the kaleidoscope-effect. One of these techniques is the employment of cinematic elements in his writings, such as cinematic cliché, cinematic narrative and montage technique.Setting out from Nabokov's enthusiasm with the movie, this thesis, as indicated in its title, focuses on the cinematic elements in Nabokov's fiction, aiming to trace the root cause of Nabokov's application of the cinematic elements, the way it is utilized and the effect it achieves so as to interpret Nabokov's writings from a new perspective. With a survey into Nabokov and his fiction, this thesis identifies that the cinematic elements in Nabokov's novels are deeply rooted in his literary views, especially the detail-oriented principle and his notion that"A great masterpiece is a great fairy tale."Furthermore, Nabokov's"game theory"influenced by the German films at that time has strong ties with his employment of cinematic elements. The following detailed analysis of Nabokov's two novels, Laughter in the Dark and Lolita intends to conclude that the cinematic elements employed in the novel add more irony both to the characters and to the mundane reality.