A Study Of Unreliable Narration In Nabokov’s “Pale Fire”

Vladimir Nabokov(1899-1977), a Russian-born American writer, occupies an important position in the history of world literature. He owned a large number of literary works and rich literary styles. He published a representative work, "Pale Fire ", in the 1960 s. That marked his work had creative maturity. This thesis describes the theoretical study of unreliable narration as the theoretical basis. The novel focuses on the relationship of the implied author and the narrator to show the unreliability of the narrator, thus reveals the true meaning of the novel. This thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter is to introduce the theory of unreliable narration. Booth, an American literary theorist, earliest made the classic definition for “unreliable narration”. First, analyzing the two core concepts, the implied author and narrator, of the Booth’s definition of unreliable narration to interpret the relationship between them. Secondly, carding the two schools, described different methods of unreliable narration, then to grasp the unreliable narration correctly. Finally, introducing the unreliable narration of "Pale Fire” simply.The second, third and fourth chapters are the text analysis based on the unreliable narration’s standard classification proposed by James Phelan,the representative of the rhetorical theory school. The second chapter is narrator’s unenterprising in the axis of knowledge and perception. The third chapter is mainly the unreliable report of the narrator, Kinbote, in axis of facts, concrete embodiment in the contrast between the "king", coined for himself in the narrator’s unreliable interpretation, and the real life. The fourth chapter mainly is the narrator’s unreliable judgment in the axis of values and ethics, concrete for the narrator’s is unreliable judgment of his value(the narrator and implied author have reached the agreement in seeking self identity, but inconsistent in looking for a solution to the dilemma with the form of fantasy.) The three chapters have showed the distinct features of the novel: The unreliable interpretation of the narrator, Kinbote is based on the unreliable reports of his real situation. And the unreliable interpretation and unreliable reports are rooted in his unreliable judgment on his own value.The fifth chapter is mainly to debate the unreliable narration from two aspects: aesthetic effect and the deep connotation. Irony is not only refers to rhetoric skills in the technical level, but also the aesthetic effect in a high level. It is the author’s deep understanding of the real life and the profound understanding of literature. Unreliable narration has produced such ironic effect on the use of narrative strategy, and its deep connotation is to expose the meta-fiction’s fiction traces.All in all, the thesis is to research Nabokov’s "pale fire" with the theory of unreliable narration, tries to enrich the connotation of the novel theory and reveal the charm of the novel text.