英语论文网

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Vladimir Nabokov himself was influenced a lot by Russian Formalism andThomas Stearns Eliot had a close relationship with the New Criticism. Besides, bothof them never neglect the influences of history on literary creation.Therefore, the reason why this thesis chooses to compare these two giants lies inthat Nabokov was generally recognized as a text-centered writer, while Eliot isfamous for his New Criticism practices. But in fact both of them have a historical turnin their works. Therefore, it is necessary for this thesis to study their literary creationand literary theory, that is fictional and non-fictional works in order to find how thishistorical turn was expressed. It is this historical turn and the text-center that form atension, which makes their works more attractive and charming. The existence of suchtension is the core of what good literature is.According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the tension is defined as “a balancemaintained in an artistic work between opposing forces or elements”. That is to say,different forces or elements inside an artistic work form the tension. Therefore,considering Nabokov and Eliot’s text-central characteristic and historical turn as twodifferent forces, this thesis is going to analyze the tension in Nabokov and Eliot’sworks, hoping to break the misunderstanding that formalists only focus on the textualform.

1.1 Nabokov and His Literary Creation
Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita and almost 70 short stories, is the mostfamous Russian American writer in the contemporary world. With the publication ofLolita in 1955, Nabokov became famous and rich. And it has been a rather long timesince 1955 until now. Therefore, as his masterpiece, Lolita has attracted enoughattention from the academic field. This thesis is going to find a new path to focus onhis five short stories “A Guide to Berlin”, “Time and Ebb”, “The Vane Sisters”,“Spring in Fialta” and “Signs and Symbols”. As for the reasons why these five arechosen among his almost 70 short stories, the author of this thesis sees that thesestories were written in his mature year when Nabokov has already formed a clear style.Secondly, considering from the content and form, all these five short stories are theepitome of Nabokov’s personal history and public history. Besides, most critics onlyfocus on the textual analysis and the historical factors are ignored. At the same time,his Lectures on Literature, Strong Opinion, Speak, Memory are also mentioned, inwhich Nabokov’s viewpoints on literary criticism and literary creation got a fullyexpression, as well as his historical opinion.Nabokov said in the fourteenth chapter of his memoir Speak, Memory: “Acolored spiral in a small ball of glass, this is how I see my own life”(193). He spenttwenty years in his native Russia (1899-1919), twenty-one years’ exiled life in Europe(1919-1940) and another twenty years in America (1940-1960). “For the moment I amconcerned with my antithetic stage, and more particularly with my life in ContinentalEurope after I had graduated from Cambridge in 1922” (193). That is to say, theémigré life and writing is the theme of his whole life. For him, “the émigré life is theconsistently searching for a spiritual home, while the writing is a kind of retrospectand reconstruction of his homeland” (Chen 1).
..........

1.2 Eliot and His Literary Creation
Thomas Stearns Eliot, not only the winner of Nob