Transitions in Nabokov Studies

Abstract

This article maps recent transitions in Nabokov Studies and places them in the context of the history of the field as it has developed since the 1960s. While many critics have allowed Nabokov’s own injunctions and ‘strong opinions’ to establish the parameters of their research, various scholars over the last decade have shown a willingness to transgress the rules of Nabokovian reading. From historicist approaches to Lolita as a holocaust novel, to controversial questions concerning ethics and ideology, I survey some of the best work on the author and suggest ways in which Nabokov Studies might develop in the future. In the past, many of the most radical readings of Nabokov have focused on Lolita, but the posthumous publication of The Original of Laura now invites renewed focus on the late fiction, while there remains the necessity of exploring Nabokov’s place within the contexts of modernism and of world literature.