An Unholy Quest For A Flawed Grail

Vladimir Nabokov is considered one of the best stylists and the greatest novelists in English literature for his unique form and exquisite style. His world renowned reputation is due in large part to his masterpiece Lolita, acclaimed as the most allusive and linguistically playful novel since Ulysses.Critics have delved since its publication into different dimensions of Lolita from various perspectives. The subject—the obsession of a middle-aged European for a twelve-year-old American girl—seems to be Humbert's creation of an abnormal love story, but in fact it is his life long quest for the meaning of his life. So the thesis attempts to analyze the novel from the Grail-quest archetype, by regarding Humbert's quest for Lolita as a variant of traditional grail-quest, because his quest is an unholy one and Lolita the Grail a flawed one. His quest takes desire as its goal, so it is doomed from the beginning. Then what is the meaning of such of a doomed quest? The author gives an answer from the perspective of existential philosophy. It is meaningless and absurd, but the existence measured by time and experienced in space needs to be stuffed with actions and events. The fact is that one will face void and nothingness if he does nothing and he will feel absurdity sooner or later if he does something in this absurd world. One has to make his choice to make his life meaningful. Humbert makes his choice and turns to art as his asylum.In introduction, after a literature review of study on Lolita, a brief survey of the motivation, the new point and the meaning of the thesis are simply explained. In chapter one, a brief introduction about the quest archetype and the grail-quest legends in literature is mentioned. Chapter two mainly takes Humbert's experience as his pious quest for his nymphet grail. He sets up his grail image when he was young, ironed it with the trauma of the virgin death of his first love, and he spends most of his adult life in a secret quest of his nymphet. At last he arrives at the castle where the grail is awaiting him. He experiences the trials and gets his grail. Chapter three focuses on Lolita who is the grail. The pilgrim realizes his grievance: the grail is only a flawed one. Lolita is just a conventional American girl. She is planning to run away from the beginning and succeeds with the help of another man. At last she inevitably grows into her womanhood. Death becomes every one's ending. Chapter four mainly analyzes the quest variant in Lolita from the quest tradition and its philosophical significance of the tragic quest.