Recently, “An Appointment with Tutors”—an exchange activity for postgraduates was held in Room 110 of the Seventh Building. Professor Ma Hongqi, Vice Dean of College of Foreign Languages invited by this event, which was hosted by the Postgraduate Student Affairs Department of the Party Committee of Nankai University and was undertaken by the Academic Department in Postgraduate Student Association of College of Foreign Languages, to deliver a lecture with the topic of “Those Female Characters Constructed by Nabokov.” In the lecture, professor Ma analyzed the features of female characters built by Nabokov and ideas he expected to convey through these characters by centering on the female protagonists from four works of Nabokov, namely, King, Queen, Knave, Laughter in the Dark, Lolita and Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle.
Martha, the female protagonist in King, Queen, Knave is a selfish and vanity woman who regards his husband Dreyer as a provider of money and material but also becomes emotionally and physically empty due to her husband’s indifferent attitude. Martha is the first image of “poshlost” (a vulgar loose woman) which was attempted to construct by Nabokov. Margot, the female protagonist in Laughter in the Dark was born in a poor family with misfortune and her families only make use of her rather than treat her genuinely. So, she leaves home for making a living in the film industry and hopes to become a star of the screen away from her former life. But during that process, she sells her body many times, thus possessing a casual attitude towards sex. Lolita is a more renowned work for readers. This novel which is unfolded in the form of Humbert, the male protagonist’s repenting to the jury, describes a guilty relationship between a middle-aged man and a little young girl from the perspective of Humbert. In this work, “Lolita” Dolores is a complete victim who is a poor child stranded by Humbert and it is Humbert’s suppression and destruction of Lolita’s personality that is the greatest malice in this book. Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle is “the most ambitious” full-length work of Nabokov with a sharp postmodernist style. This novel adopts a form of memoir of the male and female protagonists, describing the love story among Van Veen, Ada and Lucette in a planet called Antiterra. Compared with the female protagonists mentioned above, Ada is more fortune and has a happier affection since she neither is manipulated by others nor control others. She possesses the thorough freedom. The name of planet “Antiterra” has a covert meaning of “anti-earth” which may represent Nabokov’s notion that people on the earth usually deceive and manipulate each other and the freedom of individuals can only be gained in a planet like a utopia.
Finally, professor Ma concluded that overall, those female characters constructed by Nabokov embodied his protection of individuals’ freedom and criticism of the behaviors of manipulating and destroying others’ personalities. Students widely shared their reflections on and inspiration gained from this lecture. Professor Ma’s profound analysis and penetrating views further promoted students’ understanding of Nabokov’s novel and aroused great enthusiasm and interest of the students.
