Nabokov’s humor: the play of consciousness

Vladimir Nabokov' s fiction, particularly in its later stages, is thoroughly and multifariously humorous, with individual works incorporating large numbers of jokes to tremendous effect, to the point that enjoyment of Nabokov 's art is to some extent indistinguishable from engagement with his humor. Why is Nabokov 's art so robustly funny? Humor theorists, in varied words and with differing degrees of forcefulness, posit humor as necessarily presenting a possibility - ontological, behavioral, circumstantial, or interpretative - unforeseen by its audience, as a joke introduces that audience to a surprising entity, action, event or viewpoint. Nabokov, experiencing his own world as ceaselessly surprising, consciously deploys humor as a means of underscoring for readers the infinite possibilities available at each moment, utilizing jokes in the countering of divers types of expectation. Nabokov 's use of humor emerges from a well-considered theory of humor, while also reflecting a singular metaphysics. This thesis, as it maps the relationship between Nabokov 's use and theory of humor, offers a rationale for much of the humor on offer in Nabokov' s art, accounting for that humor by reference not only to its effects and implications but also to its significance in the eyes of Nabokov himself.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Brillinger, Matthew

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dr. Brian Boyd

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/367

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/367