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Humanities Edge Undergraduate Research Symposium | Fall 2023

Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita:  How a Russian Author Wrote One of the Great American Novels by Stephanie Venedicto

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to prove that Vladimir Nabokov is an American Novelist because of his titular novel Lolita, which explores the major themes of the American novels of the 1950s. In the 1950s, the Beat Generation ruled the literary scene in America by challenging the expectations of what a story should be. The Beat Generation also explored themes of sexuality and the self, something that Lolita does almost exclusively. Lolita features the American phenomenon of The Confidence Man, America during the Cold War and the American landscape both in the literature of the 1950s and the country itself. Nabokov’s outsider perspective explores and portrays the beauty and horror of the American 1950s in a way never done before. Nabokov has an exclusive perspective as he has explored the American landscape, creating a detailed view of the United States. The articles and books used in this research explore how Nabokov fulfills the criteria of American novels, making Nabokov one of the greatest American novelists.  

Keywords: Confidence Man, The American Landscape, The Cold War, American Literature.  

Research Poster

Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita:  How a Russian Author Wrote One of the Great American Novels research poster

Research Paper

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