Modern Classic in the Web Environment: Narrative Variations of V. Nabokov’s Lolita in Fanfiction

Abstract

Abstract The main focus of this paper is on the narrative strategy used by fan writers in the process of interpretation of a modern classic. The research is based on the hypothesis that text-interpretation implements the existing yet implicit narrative lines of an original source. The discussion focuses on Vladimir Nabokov’s œuvre represented by the novel Lolita in amateur writers’ communities. The article’s hypothesis is that due to the existence of English and Russian versions of Lolita, fan texts in both corpora differ in the choice of linguistic means, but use similar narrative structures (Greimas). Whenever the narrative scheme is not oversimplified to resemble the model of a mass literature novel, it follows Humbert’s confession scheme in a way the character himself wants the fictional reader to perceive it. If the name of one of the actants is omitted or the two-actant model is expanded, the amateur text is close to the plot of the novel and its auto-citation structure. The novel, devoted to the story about an erroneous interpretation, is open to any mass-media adaptations. The original narrative strategy of Lolita is more exposed through the fan adaptations: the active reader is an obligatory participant in the artistic creation.