The Characteristic Of Fairy Tale In Nabokov’s Novels

As Nabokov called the great literature fairy tale, his novels also have obviouscharacteristic of fairy tale. Investigating the reasons, we can find that Nabokov’slife experience played a decisive role on the formation and development of hisworks’ fairy tale color. Also, based on his life experience and his favor toward thefairy tale, his fairy-like literary conception was formed. And this kind of literaryconception also contributed to the formation of vivid fairy tale color in his works. Itis the above two reasons that have created Nabokov’s literary world with a strongtaste of fairy tale.Applied Frye’s description of the relationship between literature and myth tothe relationship between Nabokov’s novel and fairy tale, we can get the similarconclusions. Firstly, there are lots of original fairy tales without any modification inNabokov’s novels. Secondly, some of his novels are similar to the fairy tale in theartistic conception, scenario arrangement and the plot design, including rewritingthe well-known fairy tales. Finally, some of his novels seem like traditional realismworks, but if we read it with the way of "distance", we can see the overall feature offairy tale. All these things constitute strong fairy tale color in the Nabokov’s novels.It is the exquisite ideas and skills of fairy tale in Nabokov’s fictional worldthat demonstrates the profound writing skill. However, Nabokov is not onlyconcerned with the aesthetic aspects of the novel, but also examines the basiccondition of human existence when he shows colorful writing style. His explorationof time, which is one of the basic elements of human existence, reflects this pointdeeply. And for Nabokov who regarded time as prison, the poetic thinking andtimeless aesthetic character of the fairy tale saved him.The timeless characteristic of the fairy tale in Nabokov’s novels shows hisintention to explore the existence of human beings. On the other hand, Nabokovadvocates art but doesn’t reject the profound moral connotation. And the profoundmoral connotation in Nabokov’s works also reflects the writer’s deep thinking about the living conditions of human beings. However, the moral thought inNabokov’s works isn’t expressed directly. It is reflected naturally with variousartistic expression patterns. The characteristic of fairy tale with artistic expressionin Nabokov’s works contains not only rich artistic image and exquisite artistic form,but also the author’s unique moral philosophy.