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A Study of the Absurdity in Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading

Author: LiZuoLi
Tutor: ZhangShaoQuan
School: Jiangxi Normal University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Nabokov Invitation to a Beheading absurd absurdist novels
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Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2010
Downloads: 33
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Abstract

The employment of the absurdist elements is a distinctive feature of Nabokov’s novel Invitation to a Beheading, but critics at abroad, especially at home have not yet touched upon this aspect specifically. An overall and detailed survey and examination of the absurdity in Invitation to a Beheading is an indispensable for a better understanding of Nabokov and his work.As a detailed survey, this thesis is devoted to a thorough study of the absurdity which pervades in Invitation to a Beheading. Based on analysis the novel, reference to some views of the absurdist, comparison to some absurdist novels and characters, this thesis intends to explore the absurdist features of the novel mainly from its scenes and characters, and make a tentative attempt to dig out the significance of the absurdity in Invitation to a Beheading.Chapter one mainly contains two parts, the first part is basically a brief introduction to the novel and its author; in the second part, a study of three famous absurdist and their master works foreshadowing the absurdist features in Nabokov’s works. Chapter two is an analysis of the scenes in the novel, and I classify those scenes into three kinds of“performances”, in order to explore the absurdity in the scenes. In Chapter three, I analyze three main characters in the novel, they are Cincinnatus, M’sieur Pierre and Marthe. With a comparison between them (M’sieur Pierre and Marthe) and Cincinnatus, trying to reveal the behaviors of the characters are ridiculous and absurd. As in the absurdist novels there are lots of unreasonable and illogical elements, Chapter four aims to study the absurd logic of the world, proving that the law in the world is illogical and absurd.With an observation of Invitation to a Beheading, we are going to find the absurdity is a vivid characteristic in the novel. Based on analyzing its scenes and its characters, the absurdity of the novel is revealed layer by layer. With all the efforts, the author of this thesis hopes that the readers of Invitation to a Beheading could have a profound understanding of Nabokov’s unique writing style, and enjoy the aesthetic bliss again.

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