Post-modern Novel "lolita" Contradictions

Since the very first day of its publication, Lolita, the masterpiece of Vladimir Nabokov, has been in the swirl of discussion and controversy of critics and readers. By probing into the contradictions reflected in its narrative mode, the characters, the time theme and cultures, the thesis tries to explore Lolita's postmodern characteristics. To begin with, the first glimpse of the novel impresses the readers with a strong sense of authenticity by its first-person confessional narrative mode. Whereas a second close reading will reveal clear traces of fabrication and manipulation of the novel, which exhibit its playfulness and renders it as a readerly text in a postmodern perspective. Chapter Two focuses on the contradictive facets of characters in the novel including Lolita, Humbert and Quilty, which unveil the uncertainty and decentrality of human beings in the postmodern society. Then, the thesis deals with the contradiction revealed in the sense of time in Lolita. The very act of treating time as its theme and the contradiction of the sense of time both exhibit the postmodern characteristics of the novel. The last chapter discusses the huge differences between the real postmodern society in America and the imagined perfect one in the elitist mind of Humbert, exposing the contradiction between the elite culture and mass culture. Due to the contradictions revealed from the four perspectives, the text boasts pluralism, openness and playfulness. as a postmodern text.