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 Nabokovilia: References to Vladimir Nabokov in British and American
 literature and culture, 1960--2009
 Martinez, Juan.  Proquest Dissertations And Theses 2011.  Section 0506, Part
 0298 238 pages; [Ph.D. dissertation].United States -- Nevada: University of
 Nevada, Las Vegas; 2011. Publication Number: AAT 3457419.

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Document 1 of 1
Nabokovilia: References to Vladimir Nabokov in British and American literature
and culture, 1960--2009
Martinez, Juan.  Proquest Dissertations And Theses 2011.  Section 0506, Part
0298 238 pages; [Ph.D. dissertation].United States -- Nevada: University of
Nevada, Las Vegas; 2011. Publication Number: AAT 3457419.

***** Abstract (Summary) *****
The dissertation examines allusions to the Russian-American novelist Vladimir
Nabokov in the work of 147 contemporary cultural producers and--through this
filter--the way in which allusion functions as symbolic capital in the field of
cultural production. Critics have traditionally considered allusion a strictly
localized phenomenon, but this approach--which draws upon the work of
sociologists of literature such as Franco Moretti and Pierre Bourdieu, as well
as the poetics of Gérard Genette--considers how a Nabokov allusion operates as
an intra-authorial calling card, where Nabokov appears as an idealized,
intransigent autonomous authorial figure in the work of Zadie Smith, Martin
Amis, John Updike, Nicholson Baker, Salman Rushdie, Shelley Jackson, Guillermo
Cabrera Infante, writers associated with the McSweeney's literary journal, and
Anthony Burgess, among many others.

Writers reassert the autonomy of the individual author when they reference
Nabokov in their own novels, and in doing so these authors form a sort of ad-
hoc Nabokovian group or school even when the members and their immediate milieu
would not seem to have anything in common otherwise. Nabokov functions as a
particularly valuable unit of cultural capital given his symbolic freight:
Nabokov stands for autonomous, intransigent authorial figures everywhere,
bulwarked by equal parts mainstream bestselling success, critical
respectability, and seeming invisibility. Nabokov's intertextual narrative
approaches serve as a means of positioning the reader and controlling readerly
and critical reception, which in turn guide how Nabokov himself is referenced
in other people's novels, short stories, poems, songs, and television shows.
The aim is to provide quantifiable evidence of Nabokov's influence, and to
explore the ways in which influence can (and cannot) be roughly quantified;
these references allow for a narrower, better understanding of influence by
positioning its function within the scope of contemporary intertextual
criticism, specifically by examining the intersection of Bourdieu's field of
cultural production and Genette's notions of hypertextuality and
paratextuality. By delineating the nature and the degree of Nabokov's influence
in the field of contemporary literature--an influence made explicit in
allusions to Nabokov's work--the research further refines notions of authorial
agency in intertextual studies.

Nabokov is one of the twentieth century's most densely allusive authors, one
whose novels playfully referenced a dizzying array of literary figures, and one
whose own influence on the contemporary literary field is often noted but
seldom quantified. Nabokov-related publications aimed at both scholars and
general readers will make a note of his influence, often by grouping him with
Joyce, Borges, Beckett, and Kafka (with Nabokov as the Fifth Beatle in the
panoply of influential literary figures), though the claim is made and then
abandoned. The dissertation charts the impact of Nabokov's presence in
contemporary literature.



***** Indexing (document details) *****
Advisor:           Stevens, Anne

Committee members: Mays, Kelly,  Unger, Douglas,  Harp, Richard,  Tusan,
                  Michele

School:            University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Department:        English

School Location:   United States -- Nevada

Keyword(s):        Nabokov, Vladimir, Britain, Cultural production, Allusion

Source:            DAI-A 72/08, Feb 2012

Source type:       Dissertation

Subjects:          Modern literature, American studies, American
                  literature, British and Irish literature

Publication        AAT 3457419
Number:

ISBN:              9781124679013

Document URL:      http://proquest.umi.com/
                  pqdweb?did=2404253171&Fmt=2&clientId=79356&RQT=309&VName=PQD

ProQuest document  2404253171
ID:

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