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Lindsey Greenstein

American Fiction (1950s-present) English 147A

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Professor Lee Zimmerman

The expression,Postmodernism, refers to a time period, beginning in the 1940s after

World War II in which the nation reacted to the efforts of explaining reality that was present

in modernist times. It began to circulate throughout the population of a large, majority of

countries. Furthermore, the response was expressed by means of art, music, architecture,

philosophy, film, and culture but particularly, literature, in which we will be analyzing

through the entirety of the essay. A majority of classic postmodern works, specifically,

Lolita, written by Vladimir Nabokov have a steady, repetitious theme that examines the

external reality and truth of civilization on the surface and that explore and portray the

internal state of realization and awareness that of the characters in the novel, which is

classically seen in narratives influenced by postmodernism.Below, Vladimir Nabokovs

work, Lolita which reflects postmodernist beliefs will be analyzed and discussed in

relation to the postmodernist time period and environment in which they were written and

influenced. Nabokov has used the writing techniques irony and black humor in order to

induce his readers to feel sympathetic and understanding towards the protagonist and this is a

result due to the influence projected from the postmodern era.Lolita became a masterpiece in the United States and still remains a classic work of

postmodernism because of the passion and strength portrayed in Nabokovs words, puns, and

patterns. The audience of readers is attracted and compelled to continue reading even though

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the plot and events within the novel are disquieting, disturbing and the protagonist of the

novel is an unhinged pedophile. Postmodern writers, like Nabokov, try to move away from

the conception that a novel should have a realistic story with a sensible perspective. The

protagonist of Lolita is Humbert Humbert, who is a compassionate and very persuasive

individual, not only to the readers, but to the girls that he desires and in which he attempts to

seduce. Moreover, he desires and fiends for the love of young girls between the ages of 9 and

14, whom he refers to as nymphets. This is a not only an intense cross over from modernist

literature but it is also a distressing characteristic of a protagonist in any novel during the

postmodern time period and it has brought constant critique and disapproval.

As a result of the postmodern influence, Nabokov uses black humor throughout the

course of the novel to emphasize the use of language that radiates from Humbert Humberts

words, thoughts, and dialogue. With that in mind, Lolita (aka Dolores) is the object of

Humberts liking and desires. The key point here is that Lolita is twelve years old and

Humbert Humbert is an older man. Nabokov mediates the situation of an older man fiending

for sexual experience with a twelve year old girl by using black humor in the form of

Humberts thoughts.

IRONY Humbert refers to Dolores as an aging mistress. (Pg. 45)

In brief, Vladimir Nabokov and Don Delillo have both effectively written literature

texts that were predisposed by the time period in which they had written it; which was the

duration of World War II and post World War II, and the postmodernism upbringing. Both

novels Why is this time period important to the novels and postmodernism

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