纳博科夫的镜像现实观

（武警警官W院）

【摘要】弗拉基米尔・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》。纳博科夫独特的文学思想是他文学作品形成的基础。其中，最重要的内容是他对小说目的及其现实问题的看法。他把小说中反映的现实比作虚幻的镜像。这种扭曲后的现实不背负社会使命，只是一场文学游戏。本文分析了纳博科夫这种独特的镜像现实观，证明了纳博科夫的小说不是为了刻画现实，而是一场文字游戏。

【关键词】镜像 现实 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’ s distinctive literary ideas are the foundation of his literary works， among which， the view on reality is the most prominent. He compared the reality in a novel to the reflection in the mirror. Nabokov held that literature is an unconstrained game rather than a carrier of social or moral responsibility. In this thesis， the theory of mirrored reality is analyzed concretely， to show that Nabokov’ s novel is not to express reality but a literary game.

【Key words】mirror reality absurdity game

Nabokov’ s Mirrored Reality View

The “mirror” is a very special image in Nabokov’ s works. In most works， the mirror is like an imprisonment which restricts protagonists in their unreliable memories， while the memories， in Nabokov’ s opinion， are deceptive， brittle and “sometimes apt to lose the flavor of reality when they are immersed by the novelist” （Nabokov， Strong Opinions 12）. For example， in Nabokov’ s novel The Eye， the protagonist is made to pass by a lot of mirrors； the existence of the protagonist only depends on the image reflected in others’ mind. In Lolita， mirrors are the symbols to imply fantasy and untruth. For example， on the first night when Humbert takes Lolita to the motel during the travel， they face a room with a lot of mirrors and glasses， “there was a double bed， a mirror， a double bed in the mirror， a closet door with mirror， a bathroom door ditto， a blue-dark window， a reflected bed there， the same in the closet mirror， two chairs， a glass-topped table， two bed-tables， a double bed” （Nabokov 119）. These mirrors and glasses make Humbert confused and trapped in the cell； he can not differentiate the reality and the fantasy in the mirror.

There are two meanings included in Nabokov’ s mirrored reality view. The first one is that the purpose of writing a novel is not to reveal some social meaning or moral message. When asked about the purpose of writing Lolita， Nabokov answered： “It was an interesting thing to do. For the sake of pleasure， for the sake of difficulty” （Nabokov， Strong Opinions 16）. He said Lolita was like the composition of a beautiful puzzle and the most interesting thing to do was to decode a puzzle， “its composition and its solution at the same time， since one is a mirror view of the other， depending on the way you look” （Nabokov， Strong Opinions 20）. Therefore， either composition or solution can be the reflection---the mirage in a mirror， and it depends on the way you look. There is no definite way to decode the puzzle. But it does not matter， as the process of decoding is interesting and meaningful---to analyze the words， structures， writing skills in the novel. That is why Nabokov hoped people pay more attention to the novel itself instead of the moral message or social purpose.

The second meaning of Nabokov’ s mirrored reality view is that the composition of a novel is subjective and specific； there is no general and objective reality in the novel or in life. As is mentioned by Nabokov， “one of the functions of all my novels is to prove that the novel in general does not exist.” （Nabokov， Strong Opinions 115） There is no “general novel”， nor is there a “general reality”. For him， “to be sure， there is an average reality， perceived by all of us， but that is not true reality. It is only the reality of general ideas， conventional forms of humdrummery， current editorials” （Nabokov， Strong Opinions 118）. “The book I make is a subjective and specific affair” （Nabokov， Strong Opinions 115）. As composition is a subjective and specific affair， the reality in the novel is not related to the objective reality， but to a mirrored one. In other words， Nabokov not only denied the existence of the general reality in the novel， he even rejected that in the real world. In his view， “everyday reality” does not exist at all.

To conclude， since there is no general reality in literary world， and the purpose of writing is for pleasure， composing a novel is a kind of trick. So art is never simple； it is a delightful deception. To reveal the deception and find solutions to the puzzles or tricks are of greatest pleasure for Nabokov. In addition， Nabokov often compared the art to the chess problems. “I am fond of chess and deception in chess， as in art， is only part of the game； it’s part of the combination， part of the delightful possibilities， illusions， vistas of thought， which can be false vistas perhaps. I think a good combination should always contain a certain element of deception” （Nabokov， Speak， Memory 12）. Therefore， Nabokov hoped that when reading his works， the readers can discard the social meaning or moral responsibility， which in fact do not exist in his works， instead， they should read them exactly as playing a game， pay attention to the deceptions or traps， and immerse themselves in the pleasure of the game.

References：

[1]Doline， Alexander. “Nabokov’s Time Doubling： From the‘Gift’ to ‘Lolita’.” Nabokov Studies？2.1 （1995）： 3-40.

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

[3]Roth， Phyllis A. “In Search of Aesthetic Bliss： A Rereading of‘Lolita’.” College Literature？2.1 （1975）： 28-49.

作者介：汪小玲，论纳博科夫的流亡意识与纳博科夫研究的多元文化视角.《英美文论研究论丛》， 2007，（2）：66-70。