On The Narrative Art In Nabokov's Pale Fire

Pale Fire is one of Vladimir Nabokov's masterpieces. High praise is given to its narrative models and strategies by critics at home and abroad. They have done some research on the narrative art of Pale Fire; however, their studies lack profundity; therefore, a further exploration is required. With the guidance of the theory of narratology, the thesis has studied the problems of transgressions and changes of focalization, the relationship between narrators and narrative levels, the reliability and the perceptibility of different narrators in Pale Fire.Chapter one discusses the problems of the transgressions of focalization in external focalization, the transgression of focalization in internal focalization, the transgressions of focalization in zero focalization in Pale Fire and their causes and characteristics. Chapter two focuses on the issues of changes of focalization between"narrating I"and"experienced I", changes between internal focalization and zero-focalization, and their causes and features. Chapter three explores the relationship between narrative levels and the extent of narrators'participation, their reliability and perceptibility.In his novel Pale Fire, Nabokov has invented a multi-focalization mode by using the narrative strategies of transgressions and changes of focalization and narrator's function, which helps him win the freedom of narration on the one hand; on the other hand, the capacity of narration is strengthened and the narrative distance between the narrator, the characters and the readers is enlarged by using such narrative strategies.