评奥尔特新著《纳博科夫与现实世界:在欣赏与防御之间》

A Review of Robert Alter’s Nabokov and the Real World:Between Appreciation and Defense

《纳博科夫与现实世界:在欣赏与防御之间》是美国著名宗教学者、文学评论家罗伯特·奥尔特新出版的一部纳博科夫批评文集。如书名所示,这部文集的主题紧紧围绕纳博科夫与现实世界之间既融洽又紧张的关系而展开,试图阐明纳博科夫的小说创作是实现其道德关怀、政治介入乃至重塑现实的艺术手段。作者运用历时和共时相结合的考察方法,证明纳博科夫的小说世界是作家主体意识与文体风格共同营造的更为“真实”的现实,也因此具有更为“真实”的历史维度。此书论证方法缜密,结论新颖,是自20世纪90年代以来关于纳博科夫研究的一次突破性尝试。

Robert Alter is a famous American literary critic and scholar of religious studies.Nabokov and the Real World:Between Appreciation and Defense is his newly published book.As the title indicates,this book,by focusing on the paradoxical relationship between Nabokov and the real world,tries to prove the idea that Nabokov’s literary artifice is meant for realistic purposes such as moral teachings,political concerns,and reconstruction of reality.With the combinational use of diachronic and synchronic methodologies,Alter successfully proves that Nabokov’s fictional world is a “real world” of history and politics in a truer sense;this “real world” is made possible through Nabokov’s self-conscious writing and style.In a certain sense,Alter’s book can be regarded as a renovating attempt in the reading of Nabokov’s works since 1990’s for its rigorous argument,validity of methods and unique answers provided for Nabokovian studies.