It is kind of ironic when the author uses an unreliable narrator to present the opposite point of view. The author uses this literary device to create an atmosphere of authenticity in his work. Such kind of narration makes the work deeper and more interesting for the reader. Factually, the unreliable narrator is not the problem for the experienced writer. An experienced writer understands all motifs of Humbert’s incompleteness and uncertainty. Nabokov uses this type of narration to present Humbert’s nature fully. This type of narration makes the literary work more interesting as far as the reader is expected to understand why the narrator is not straightforward and hides a lot of facts (Wierhardt, n.d.). ![]() ![]() He presents the information as he remembers it or as he wants to present it. The unreliability of narration may sometimes be explained by the gaps in memory when the narrator describes the events taking place in the past. More than that, the narrator may lie deliberately or not if he does not remember all details. Sometimes he makes mistakes as far as nobody is insured from mistakes and a narrator is an ordinary man. On the other hand, the narrator may provide the information in a distorted way either from self-interest or ignorance. There are cases when the narrator is inexperienced and young or is not very clever to provide information in a logically connected way. The author usually uses such a technique to express the opposite morals from his ones.Īccording to Rimmon-Keenan, there are three sources of unreliability: “the narrator’s limited knowledge, his involvement, and his questionable morals” (p. The “unreliable narrator” is the narrator who should not be trusted. When the narrator expresses values and beliefs that do not correspond to the author’s ones, he is considered to be unreliable. Booth provides the following definition of the “unreliable narrator”: “I have called a narrator reliable when he speaks for or acts under the norms of the work (which is to say under’s norms), unreliable when he does not” (Booth, p. ![]() This notion is considered to be the basic concept of modernism (Wierhardt, n.d.). Booth’s work Rhetoric of Fiction published in 1961. One of the main aims of this research paper is to prove that Humbert’s narration is an unreliable one.įirst of all, it will be quite reasonable to define the “unreliable narrator”. It should be noted that there is a great number of signs that testify to the unreliability of the narrator. We support the idea of unreliability in our research. If his words are understood directly the narrator is considered to express the thoughts of the implied author. Two camps of researchers consider Humbert to be an unreliable narrator and those who understand his words in the direct sense. This misunderstanding has been caused by the freedom that Nabokov endows his main character. This afterword has not satisfied the critics and they consider Nabokov to be on the side of Humbert rather than of Lolita. Nabokov has decided to add afterword to the American edition of this book where he states that he does not support Humbert’s morals and their points of view differ from each other considerably (Wasmuth, 2009). Many critics blame Nabokov who is considered to share the same immoral points of view as the narrator of his book. The ambiguous nature of Humbert’s narration has become the subject of much research since the year of its publication. Humbert is known to be the main narrator of Lolita. One of the basic problems posed by this novel is the misconception of the main character. It is considered to be the queen of all unreliable narratives. Lolita is the most controversial novel written by Vladimir Nabokov. ![]() Nevertheless, an attentive reader may catch the hint of unreliability in his narration. There are a lot of techniques used by the narrator to make the reader trust his point of view. It seems that the reader looks at the distorted mirror reading his works. The reader may conclude that the narrator’s point of view may be distorted, and it should not be trusted by the reader. Vladimir Nabokov uses unreliable narrators in his works. 308 qualified specialists online Learn more
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