戏仿

沈岳琳

【摘要】弗拉基米爾·纳博科夫（Vladimir Nabokov 1899-1977）是一名俄裔美国作家， 他最知名且最具有文学价值的作品是《洛丽塔》。纳博科夫认为小说并不是像平面镜一样去直观地反映现实影像， 投射出社会的现实问题， 而是像哈哈镜一样将现实扭曲变形。这种扭曲后的现实不背负社会使命， 只是一场文学游戏。本文通过分析纳博科夫在小说中用的叙述策略之一戏仿， 来论证其小说具有荒谬性和游戏性的特点。

【关键词】镜像 戏仿 荒谬性 游戏性

【Abstract】Vladimir Nabokov （1899-1977） is a famous Russian born American writer. His most famous and prominent work is Lolita. Nabokov believes that the novel is not the direct reflection of reality； instead， it is a distorted and transmutative reflection through a distorting mirror. Therefore literature is an unconstrained game rather than a carrier of social or moral responsibility. In this thesis， the narrative skill of parody is analyzed here， to show the absurdity and non-authenticity in his novel.

【Key words】mirror； parody； absurdity； game

Parody-the mirrored game in Lolita

Parody is one of Nabokovs favorite writing techniques. In one of Nabokovs interviews， he was questioned why he was so fond of parody since he did not wish to be taken as a “moral satirist”. Nabokov answered with a very simple but sharp sentence： “Satire is a lesson， parody is a game”. Art is like a game for him， the same is with life. Using parody in his novel is like playing games with the readers， amusing them with these colorful riddles， making them know the novel is far away from reality. There are several kinds of parody applied by Nabokov， the parody of authors is analyzed concretely here.

In Lolita， there are many famous writers， artists mentioned by Humbert， among which， Edgar Allan Poe and Sigmund Freud are prominent.

It is obvious that the whole story of Humbert and his first love is parodying Edgar Allan Poe. Poe married his wife Virginia Clemm when she was only thirteen years old， who died from tuberculosis at a very young age. In order to memorize his wife， Poe wrote a poem “Annabel Lee”. In Lolita， Humberts childhood lover is called Annabel Leigh； when Humbert first meets her， she is thirteen years old； they fell in love with each other on the beach of a sea city.

Apparently， apart from the same name and age of the two girls， both the two couples love stories take place “by the sea”. Besides， the two young girls destinies are similar too： they both die of disease at a young age. All the evidences show that the child-love memory of Humbert probably imitates Edgar Allen Poes love story， which implies that Humberts perverted love may only exist in the fictional world. Through parodying Edgar Allen Poe， a great and respectable author in literary world， Humbert attempts to relieve his sins against Lolita. However， the parody only makes his story unreliable and satiric.

Another parodied author in Lolita is Sigmund Freud. For psychiatrists， Humbert seems to be a psychopathic whose origin of disease should date back to his childhood. According to Freud， “when triggered by some later event in adult life， a repressed wish is revived and motivated of fantasy， in disguised form， of a satisfaction that is modeled on the way that the wish had been gratified in infancy or early childhood” （Abrams 249）. Therefore， it seems reasonable that Humberts perverted behaviors are closely related to his childhood memory. However， Humberts wish to possess a nymphet is never repressed. In fact， he is quite clear about what he wants all the time even though it is obscene and morbid. Regarding Humberts case as a psychiatric typical case， the psychiatrist would probably advise Humbert to take Lolita to the seaside and have him find there “at last， the ‘gratification of a lifetime urge， and release from the ‘subconscious obsession of an incomplete childhood romance with the initial little Miss Lee” （Nabokov 167）. Ironically， this treatment plan is perceived by Humbert himself， and he indeed looks for a beach with Lolita intentionally. The traveling is far from being the impulsive of the subconscious， and “it had become the rational pursuit of a purely theoretical thrill” （Nabokov 167）.

Through parodying the Freudian theory such as subconscious， interpretation of dreams， Nabokov satirized the Freudianism in a humorous way. For instance， when he teases the doctors through making up some elaborate ridiculous dreams， cunningly leads them on， and asks for interpretations， readers could not help laughing about the stupidity of the doctors.

Just as Nabokov said， parody is a game. Through these parodies， readers see an ironical， absurd， fictional， but magic world in this novel. Nabokov used the narrative strategy of parody to mock other authors or theories， through which an element of black humor pervades the whole novel. The readers see an absurd world through these parodied people and things， laughing and sighing at the same time. Parody is a game， and life is also a game. Nabokovs goal of inventing this novel is to play an artistic game with readers in this fictional world， and he achieved it.

References：

[1]Abrams，Meyer Howard，and Geoffrey Harpham.A Glossary of Literary Terms.Boston：Cengage Learning，2014.

[2]Nabokov，Vladimir Vladimirovich.Lolita.New York：Random House，1997.