论纳博科夫的小说伦理观——以其俄罗斯文学批评为中心

Nabokov’s View of Novel Ethics: Focusing on His Russian Literary Criticism

作为以小说扬名的经典作家,纳博科夫的小说伦理观至今仍有众多争议。本文以其俄罗斯文学批评为中心,追溯作家对19世纪中期俄罗斯文学史上功利与审美之争的态度,指出他反对极端功利主义文学观及其引发的刻意道德化说教,主张自由艺术的内在伦理,将伦理影响视为作家天赋的自然色彩,认为作家以不自觉的方式改良社会,小说的德性源于其自由的本质。作家的这种小说伦理观不是对唯美主义的回归,而是对俄罗斯文学传统的继承与超越。

As a classic novelist, Vladimir Nabokov’s view about novel ethics is still a controversial topic among critics. Focusing on his Russian literary criticism, this paper depicts his attitude toward the polemic concerning the aesthetic and utilitarian literary concepts in the mid-19th century in Russia and discloses his opposition against utilitarian literature and deliberate moralizing in literature. In contrast he advocates the inherent morality of uninhibited art, regarding moral impact as the natural coloration of talent, thus writers unwittingly bringing an improvement to society. For him the morality of fiction lies in the essential fact that it determines itself freely. This view of novel ethics is not a return to aestheticism but a development of Russian literary tradition.