A Quest(ion) of Cultural Identity: Vladimir Nabokov's America

Abstract

This dissertation aims at providing readers of Nabokov's fiction with a better awareness towards his works and the way they playfully engage with concepts such as culture, national representation, and identity, especially if one considers how much Nabokov’s production, although often indirectly, was aimed at establishing a dialogue with the American lifestyle and its values. In particular, the following pages will investigate his approach towards three key aspects that have been traditionally associated with American culture that are deeply interrelated. The first part of this inquiry will discuss the influence of mass media and consumer culture on the shaping of the character’s choices, and they way they problematically react to and engage with such concepts; the following chapter analyzes gender representation and the myth of innocence within American culture, a theme constantly present in the novels; while the third will be focused on the way Nabokov’s physical worlds (the semi-realistic U.S. of “Pnin" and “Lolita" and the Kingdom of Zembla) challenge us to explore those very boundaries that define national belonging and to rethink the idea of nation and its limits.