Referential equivalence between the english and vietnamese version of lolita

Then it will test the appropriateness of House‘s model for translation quality assessment in assessing Vietnamese version of English novel ―Lolita‖ regarding referential equivalence.. Co

PHẠM THỊ HỒNG NHUNG

REFERENTIAL EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE VERSIONS OF

"LOLITA"

(ĐÁNH GIÁ MỨC ĐỘ THAM CHIẾU CỦA HAI BẢN TIẾNG ANH

VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT CỦA TÁC PHẨM “LOLITA”)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Hanoi, 2014

PHẠM THỊ HỒNG NHUNG

REFERENTIAL EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE VERSIONS OF

"LOLITA"

(ĐÁNH GIÁ MỨC ĐỘ THAM CHIẾU CỦA HAI BẢN TIẾNG ANH

VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT CỦA TÁC PHẨM “LOLITA”)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Asoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến

Hanoi, 2014

the retention and use of master‘s graduation paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan

or reproduction of the paper

Hanoi, February 10th, 2014

Phạm Thị Hồng Nhung

First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr

Le Hung Tien for his patient guidance, critical feedback, encouragement, and constructive supervision throughout my research I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to all of my friends who have always encouraged and given me valuable advice in the process of doing this research

The support extended to me by members of my family has been immeasurable I would like to express my sincere thanks to my father, my mother, and my brother for their support and encouragement throughout my study

ABSTRACT

In today‘s world where no nation can ignore the globalization trend, the demand for easy access to the body of literary works of a country is greater than ever before More and more literary works are being translated from English, the international language of communication into Vietnamese, for various purposes This calls for academic studies into the field of literary translation It is extremely necessary to evaluate the quality of the translation text with a view to improving translation in general and Literary Translation in particular

This study aims at revealing the most basic features of English literary text and basic concepts of translation theory in general, literary translation in particular Then it will test the appropriateness of House‘s model for translation quality assessment in assessing Vietnamese version of English novel ―Lolita‖ regarding referential equivalence Finally, suggestions for further studies in translating English literary texts into Vietnamese will be proposed

1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study 1

1.2.3 Discourse analysis in translation

2.2 Analysis of the original text based on J House‘s model 19

CHAPTER 3: TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF

3.1 Comparison in referential level of equivalence between the

source text and the target text based on J House‘s model through lexical means

REFERENCES APPENDIX: SUGGESTEST TRANSLATIONS

45

I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

SL: Source Language TL: Target Language ST: Source Text TT: Translation Text

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study

The profound importance of translation cannot be denied all over the world through the ages The massive expansion of translation of a wide diversity of fields such as economics or literature has increased a mutual exchange of knowledge and culture In particular, not only do nations depend

on it to bridge what would otherwise an impossible communication gap, but it also accommodate human access to the wealth of global scientific and technology information, as well as to the ideas that shape our society However, translation has never been an easy task, but truly an art which requires great efforts and proficiency of translators Not surprisingly, the translator's role is, however, by no means a passive and mechanical one, and has also been compared to that of an artist A translator must well-understand both languages, as well as the culture that he is to translate

When the researcher set out to investigate what had been written on the topic of translation assessment the researcher could notice that much had been written about translation theory and practice, but very little had been written

on translation assessment Owing to the Vietnamese readers‘ increasing demand for English works of literature, there is a growing tendency for literary translation without being assessed and edited carefully This has led to

a hot issue ―translation disaster‖ arising among translators The translator, Tran Dinh Hien stated that the essence of the translation is the cultural exchange between two countries As a result, in order to be a good translator, apart from the exceptional ability to use languages, he also needs relevant experience and deep understanding of two cultures How one piece of literary work is translated has an enormous influence on the readers‘ interpretation and understanding of the country Therefore, comprehensive assessment of literary

work is badly needed However, there has been, so far, no appropriate official study on evaluating English-Vietnamese translation in the field of literature

‗Lolita‘ by Nabakov is one of the most notable literary works that has excited long-standing controversy over the morality among translators Additionally, this piece of work is also reputable for Nabakov‘s writing style The Vietnamese version of ―Lolita‖ was translated by an experienced translator, Duong Tuong; however, not only experts in translation quality assessment but also Vietnamese readers are doubtful about the quality of this version

All the things concerned above have offered the researcher an

opportunity to conduct a study on ‗Referential equivalence between the English and Vietnamese versions of "Lolita"

2 Aims and objectives of the study

Regarding the aforementioned research gaps, the present study is undertaken as an attempt to evaluate the quality of translation text compared

to the original one ―Lolita‖ in terms of referential equivalence

In short, the principal aims of the study could be summarized into the research question as follows:

How is the translation quality of Vietnamese version “Lolita” regarding referential equivalence?

3 Significance of the study

Once having been completed, the study would serve as one official academic study on translation evaluation of Vietnamese version ―Lolita‖ that

is eagerly awaited for so long among Vietnamese readers

In addition to academic significance, the findings from the research would probably contribute to the process of editing this version later

4 Scope of the study

As a matter of fact, there has been different views and models on translation quality assessment Due to time constraint, resources, the

researcher‘s knowledge and experience, the primary focus will inevitably be

on evaluate the referential equivalence between two versions

5 Organisation

The rest of the paper is organized as follows:

PART B: DEVELOPMENT includes the 3 following chapters:

CHAPTER 1 (LITERATURE REVIEW) provides the readers with

theoretical background related to translation and translation equivalence in general, with a view to understanding the present research It also highlights the main issues and controversies around the problem

CHAPTER 2 (ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH VERSION OF

“LOLITA”) gives the readers the fundamental information about this novel

In this novel, House‘s model for translation quality assessment will first be presented and then applied in analyzing the English version of Lolita

CHAPTER 3 (TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF VIETNAMESE VERSION OF “LOLITA”) provides the readers with

thorough analysis of translation evaluation of Vietnamese version of ―Lolita‖

in terms of referential equivalence

PART C: CONCLUSION contains the summary of the main findings

of the study, the brief limitations of the research and some suggestions for further studies

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.4 Definition of translation

Translation is usually defined as a process of substituting a source language text by a target language text, where the aim is to preserve the meaning and content of the original text as accurately as possible This is obviously an immensely simplified definition of a process which might seem relatively simple; however, it is actually a much more complicated process in reality than expected Some translation theorists have introduced their definitions of translation and characterized the nature and aims of translation

Catford (1974: 20) defines translation as "the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)" He describes translation as a unidirectional process, which is always performed from a given source language to a given target language

In Catford‘s (ibid.: 21) view, the aim of translation is to find the target language equivalents

According to Bell (1991), the goal of translation is "the transformation of a text originally in one language into an equivalent text in a different language retaining, as far as possible, the content of the message and the formal features and functional roles of the original text." In contrast

to Catford, Bell (ibid.: 6) argues that a total equivalence between a source language text and its translation is something that can never be fully achieved

Newmark (1981: 7) defines translation as "a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language" According to Bassnett-McGuire (1980: 2), the aim of translation is that the meaning of the target

language text is similar to that of the source language text, and that "the structures of the SL will be preserved as closely as possible, but not so closely that the TL structures will be seriously distorted" In other words, the source language structure must not be imitated to such an extent that the target language text becomes ungrammatical or sounds otherwise unnatural

or clumsy

These definitions of translation are fairly congruent with each other, and various theorists define translation in relatively similar terms Although a diversity of perspectives has been articulated within the field of translation theory, there are some views that translation theorists generally agree on Specifically, they all share the same essence of translation which lies in the preservation of semantic, pragmatic, and textual aspects of meaning across two different languages

1.5 Translation Equivalence 1.2.4 The nature of translation equivalence

One of the most central concepts in translation theory is the concept

of equivalence As stated by Catford (1965), ―the central problem of translation practice is that of finding TL equivalents and the central task of translation theory is therefore that of defining the nature and conditions of translation equivalence‖ (p 21) Therefore, numerous linguistic scholars recognized the importance of seeking a proper equivalence during translation process; however, some confusion and vagueness still exists in the very definition of the concept Different kinds of categories of equivalence have also been suggested within the field of translation theory The complexity and elusiveness of the concept has resulted in the fact that a universally valid, comprehensive definition of equivalence does not exist Nevertheless,

in the study, the researcher will now introduce some views on translation equivalence and its different types

The definition of equivalence has experienced great changes in the history of translation theory Eugene A Nida‘s (1969) conceptualisation of dynamic equivalence is perhaps the best known view on translation equivalence According to Nida and Taber (1969: 24), dynamic equivalence has been achieved if the target language readers respond to the same text in the same way that the source language readers responded to it In other words, the translation should always have the same emotional effect on target language readers as the source text had on source language readers This effect can hardly ever be perfectly identical, however, due to different cultural settings of the SL and TL audiences (ibid.) Another problem is that sometimes it might be somewhat difficult to determine what exactly the 'effect' of a given text is and who precisely is the intended receiver of the message (Chesterman 1989: 80)

J.C Catford‘s textual equivalence is another well-known definition of translation equivalence According to Catford (1974: 49), source and target language words do not usually have precisely the same meaning in the linguistic sense, but that does not mean that they could not nevertheless function well enough in the same situation Thus, Catford (ibid.) argues that the translation is equivalent with the source text when they are

"interchangeable in a given situation"

However, the linguistic and cultural differences between two different languages make perfect correspondence a sheer impossibility in practice As Bassnett-McGuire (1980: 29) puts it, equivalence in translation should no longer be understood as a relationship of sameness, since "sameness cannot even exist between two TL versions of the same text, let alone between SL and TL version"

1.2.5 Translation equivalence types

Many scholars dedicated themselves to studying TE under qualitative approach Among thousands of research works on this, some has become the

famous and reliable foundations for the latter studies To date, there have been 3 subdivisions under qualitative approach including: function-based, meaning-based and form-based approach Eugene A Nida, Koller and Baker are three linguistic researchers are credited as the founders of these above approaches with their major works of the time

a Function-based equivalence

Eugene A Nida (1964) argues that there are two different types of equivalence, including formal equivalence which, in the second edition, is referred to as formal correspondence and dynamic equivalence Formal correspondence focuses attention on both form and content (as in Bible, international diplomacy, law and the like) unlike dynamic equivalence emphasizes the text readability Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which represents the closest equivalent of a SL word or phrase Nida stresses that there are not always formal equivalents between language pairs Dynamic equivalence is a translation principle in which a translator translates the meaning of the original text; producing the same impact on the original wording did upon the ST audience

Nida (1964) believes that the main aim of equivalent effect is to achieve "the closest natural equivalent to the source language" (p.126) He stresses that the adaptation of grammar, cultural references and lexicon of the

ST will lead to the translation naturalness while highlighting the preservation

of the text meaning on its style as the root of the equivalent effects He argues that formal translators who focus more on forms are more likely to misinterpret the "intention of the author" and "distort the meaning" (p 191-192)

b Meaning-based equivalence

Werner Koller (1977) proposes five levels of equivalence, namely

‗denotative, connotative, text-normative, pragmatic and formal equivalence‘

It is noteworthy that Koller‘s formal equivalence is different from Nida‘s As

cited in Mehrach (1997, p.14) and Munday (2001, p 47), Koller distinguishes five types of equivalence as follows:

 'denotative equivalence' refers to the case where the ST and the TT have the same denotations, that is conveying the same extra linguistic facts;

 'connotative equivalence' is also referred as 'stylistic equivalence' and related to the lexical choices between near synonyms;

 ‗text normative' refers to text types, i.e., the description and analysis of a variety of texts behaving differently;

 'pragmatic equivalence' is also called 'communicative equivalence',

is oriented towards the receptor of the text, as he should receive the same effect that the original text produces on its readers;

 'formal equivalence' may also be referred to as 'expressive equivalence', is related to the word-for-word rendition of forms, aesthetic and stylistic features of the ST

c Form-based equivalence

Baker (1992) proposes five levels of equivalence: equivalence at word level, equivalence above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual equivalence, pragmatic equivalence Firstly, equivalence at word level is taken into consideration Baker defines the term ―word‖ and notes that word sometimes have different meanings in different languages, and relates meaning of words with morpheme Baker introduces problems at word level and above word level before suggesting some strategies in dealing with them Secondly, grammatical equivalence refers to the diversity of grammatical categories across languages She affirms that grammatical rules across languages may differ, which lead to some problems in finding a direct correspondence in the TL Thirdly, textual equivalence refers to the equivalence between a SL text and a TL text regarding information and cohesion Whether the cohesive relations between TL and SL should be

maintained depends on three main factors, that is, the target audience, the purpose of the translation and the text type Finally, pragmatic equivalence refers to implication of the TL text The duty of a translator is recognizing the implied meaning of SL text, and then reproducing it in a way that readers

of the TL can comprehend clearly without any misunderstanding culturally

1.2.6 Discourse analysis in translation

a Definition Brown and Yule (1983) define discourse analysis as follows:

“In the study of language, some of the most interesting questions arise

in connection with the way language is used, rather than what its components are…We were, in effect, asking how it is language-users interpret what other language-users intend to convey When we carry this investigation further and ask how it is that we, as language users, make sense of what we read in texts, understand what speakers mean, despite what they say, recognize connected as opposed to jumbled or incoherent discourse, and successful take part in that complex activity called conversation, we are undertaking what is known discourse analysis” [12, p.iii]

In summary, discourse analysis is the analysis of language in use and includes in itself the analysis of the text beyond and above the sentence Consequently, discourse analysis is fundamental in translation because translation is interpreted as to comprise discourse analysis (of ST) and reconstructuring (into TT)

b Levels of Discourse analysis in translation

In the light of Newmark (1988), four levels of discourse analysis more or less consciously in mind in translation process

 (1) the SL text level, the level of language, where we begin and which we continually (but not continuously) go back to;

 (2) the referential level, the level of objects and events, real or imaginary, which we progressively have to visualise and build up, and which is an essential part, first of the comprehension, then of the reproduction process;

 (3) the cohesive level, which is more general, and grammatical, which traces the train of thought, the feeling tone (positive or negative) and the various presuppositions of the SL text This level encompasses both comprehension and reproduction: it presents an overall picture, to which we may have to adjust the language level;

 (4) the level of naturalness, of common language appropriate to the writer or the speaker in a certain situation

1.6 Literary translation 1.3.4 Basic features of literary text

Literature is the way of using well-chosen words to narrate a story involving characters in a conflict, or to express an emotion or idea through artfully arranged images The purpose of literature is to entertain or enlighten the reader through the use of imagination

As a matter of fact, literary language is a part of general linguistics Almost all linguistic features used in literary texts are, as a consequence, taken from general linguistics However, literary language possesses some undeniable typical features

Literary language possesses all the characteristics that assist in realizing the descriptive goal of literary texts As Peter Mark (1995: 13) states, there is ―an emphasis linking verbs, adjective, and adjectival nouns.‖ Literary texts also consist of the linguistic particularities relating to ―major topics as cohesion, manning patterns, modality, and evaluation, the structure

of narratives, the recording of character speech and thought, clause processes and participants, and the dynamic of dialogue, presupposition and textual revision.‖ (Michael Toolan – 1998)

Literary texts also carry the metrical and para-metrical features of language This is an adaptation of the linguistic form called the prosodic phonological form A linguistic form used in literary language is parallelism

in syntax, semantics, and lexis

With regards to narrative, one of the aspects of narrative form which exists independently is the macro-structure, or large-scale structure As far as

I am concerned, it is generally agreed upon that the structure of the stories cannot adequately be accounted for in terms of their sentence structures alone Notions such as plot, scheme, theme, and plan have been used, both in classical literary scholarship and in structural analysis of myths, folktales and other simple stories, in order to denote more global narrative structures

Another point that should be noted about literary language is that it is closely related to cultural elements These cultural elements marked out the patterns and threads in the narrative whereby the overall cultural gap that has

to be bridged and gauged, and some consideration can also be given to the balance of items to be domesticated and foreignised Moreover, these elements provide the readers insights into the author and an understanding of the undercurrents in the novel It is, thus, clear that cultural elements are central to any translation Nord (1997:11) supports this idea by stating that

―… a translation theory cannot draw on a linguistic theory alone… What it needs is a theory of culture to explain the specificity of communicative situations and the relationship between verbalized and non-verbalized situational elements.‖

1.3.5 Problems of literary translation

In order to create a good piece of translation, a translator has to deal with many challenges, especially literary translation where a large number of problems still remain

Long-standing debates mainly consider finding equivalents not just for lexis, syntax, or concepts, but also for features such as style, genre,

figurative language, historical stylistic dimensions, polyvalence, connotations as well as denotations, cultural items and culture-specific concepts and values It is the translators who make a choice whether to retain stylistic dimension of the original become critical in literary translation

One of the most significant problems in translating literary texts is the differences between cultures It is easily recognized by a translator who uses

a cultural approach that each language contains elements which are derived from its culture In addition, every text is anchored in a specific culture, and conventions of text production and reception vary from culture to culture In fact, translation is considered as a form of intercultural communication which poses the problems not merely at verbal level or linguistic level The awareness that one does not seek barely verbal equivalents but also for cultural equivalents, if there is any, comes in handy in prompting the translator to decide the strategies he or she has to use Accordingly, translation is no longer a matter of finding verbal equivalents but also interpreting a text encoded in one semiotic system with the assistance of another The whole enterprise of finding cultural equivalents raises awareness of the difference and similarities between cultures It also brings into focus the critical question of cultural identity Apparently, literary translation exerts great influence on the target culture, and at the same time, the target culture has never stopped restraining the process of literary translation It is held that ―there is always a context in which the translation takes place, always in a history from which a text emerges and into which a text is transposed‖ (Lafervere: 1990: 11) As a matter of fact, literary translation is embedded with the constraints of a certain target cultural context

1.3.6 Covert and Overt Translation

According to Juliane House (1997), the essence of translation lies in the preservation of "meaning" across two languages There are three aspects

to this "meaning": semantic, pragmatic and textual so that translation may be defined as the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language She concluded that

in translation assessment, the critic have to find two kinds of mismatches

between the two texts One of these mismatches is overtly erroneous error and the other one is covertly erroneous error Based on these factors, she introduced two kinds of translation: Overt vs Covert Translations

In an overt translation, the TT audience is not directly addressed and there is, therefore, no need at all to attempt to recreate a second original text since an overt translation must overtly a translation In overt translation, the work of the translator is important and visible It is the translator‘s task to give target culture members access to the original text and its cultural impact

on source culture members Also, the translator puts culture members in a position to observe and judge this text from outside Thus the major difficulty in translating overtly is finding linguistic cultural equivalents particularly along the dimension of Tenor and its characterization of the author‘s temporal, social and geographical provenance

Covert translation, on the other hand, means the production of a text which is functionally equivalent to the ST In this type of translation, the translator has to attempt to recreate an equivalent speech event Consequently, the function of a covert translation is to reproduce in the target text the function that the original has in its frame and discourse world It is the translator‘s expression task to betray the original and to hide behind the transformation of the original Thus, the work of translator is clearly less visible, if not totally absent

In short, covert translation is less complex and more deceptive than overt translation In evaluating a translation, it is thus essential that the fundamental differences between overt and covert translation be taken into

account These two types of translation clearly make different demands on translation criticism

1.7 Julianne House’s translation quality assessment model

Before presenting her model, House explains the theoretical basis on which her model was developed She (1976) starts by saying that it is the essence of translation that meaning be preserved across the two languages involved, and that meaning has three basic aspects: a semantic, a pragmatic and a textual aspect

The semantic aspect is the most easily accessible from the three aspects and has been given preference by evaluators However, the pragmatic aspect that is "the particular use of an expression on a specific occasion" (House, 1981:27) is very important in translation because translation deals with language in use

The textual aspect has been frequently neglected though it is a very important aspect because all the references such as substitutions, anaphora, ellipses, etc that makes up the different ways of text constitution account for the textual meaning that should be preserved in translation

Thus, according to House, translation would be "the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language" (House, 1981:29-30) The problem is then to explain what equivalence means

According to House, the equivalence sought should be an equivalence

of function that is both source and translation texts must present the same function and the text's function can only be made explicit through a detailed analysis of the text itself

This is the basis for the model, and what makes it different from the other criteria for establishing equivalence because those criteria relied either

on the writer's intention, an item that is not open to empirical investigation,

or on the reader's responses, which presents problems to be measured

The function of a text would then be "the application (cf Lyons, 1969:434] or use which the text has in the particular context of a situation" (House, 1981:37) Thus, each text is an individual text embedded in a unique situation, and to characterize the text's function it is necessary to refer the text to the situation To accomplish this, the notion of situation has to be

broken down into the following specific situational dimensions: dimensions

of language user and dimensions of language use

Dimension of language user Dimension of language use

iv Social Attitude

v Province

To be more specific, these terms can be understood as follows:

 Geographical Origin: features indicating the text's producer

geographical origin

 Social Class: features indicating the text's producer position on a

social scale

 Time: a feature which provides clues to a text‘s temporal origin

 In Dimension of language user, three situational dimensions are introduced They all refer to the features which mark the provenance of a text producer

 Medium: may be either simple, i.e written to be read, or complex,

e.g written to be spoken as if not written (as in a play), or simply written to be spoken (as in a draft of a speech or sermon)

 Participation may also simple or complex Simple refers to a

monologue or dialogue; complex refers to various ways of

monologue manifest linguistically e.g., in the specific use of pronouns, presence of contact parentheses, etc

 Social Role Relationship refers to the role relationships that are

divided into symmetrical and asymmetrical ones between addresser and addressees The former is characterized by solidarity and equality between addresser and addresses, whereas the latter is marked by some kind of an authority relationship between addresser and addresses

 Social Attitude describes the degrees of social distance or

proximity resulting in relative formality or informality Joos‘ (1961) suggests five different styles or degrees of formality: frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate

 Province is broadly defined: it refers not only to the text

producer‘s occupational and professional activity but also to the field or topic of the text in its widest sense of ―area of operation‖

of the language activity, as well as details of the text production as far as these can be deduced from the text itself

CHAPTER 2 ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH VERSION OF “LOLITA”

2.1 Brief introduction 2.1.1 The author

Vladimir Nabokov was born in St Petersburg into a wealthy, aristocratic family His father, Vladimir Dimitrievich Nabokov, was a liberal politician, lawyer, and journalist The household was Anglophile – Nabokov spoke Russian and English

He is considered as a Russian-born American novelist, critic, and acknowledged lepidopterist Nabokov wrote both in Russian and English His

best-known novel, Lolita (1955), shocked many people but its humor and

literary style were praised by critics

As a writer Nabokov gained his first literary success with his translations

of some of Heine's songs By 1955, Nabokov had already published a number of

novels but had yet to create his masterpiece Lolita, which Nabokov began

writing in 1949 It took six years before Nabokov finished Lolita, a literary

bomb The English writer Graham Greene cited it among the best books of 1955 Edmund Wilson, Evelyn Waugh, and E.M Forster did not share his view

With Lolita Nabokov gained a huge success, although it was banned in Paris in

1956-58 and not published in full in America and the U.K until 1958

2.1.2 The novel

Lolita is one of the most controversial novels of the 20th-century, in

which the rhetoric of the protagonist both captivates and repels The story deals with the desire of a middle-aged pedophile Humbert Humbert, the narrator, for a 12-year-old girl "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins," he starts his story Humbert is said to be a metaphor for the writer and his art, and for the old world – Humbert is an European expatriate – encountering the new, represented by an American teenage girl, in all its vulgarity Humbert keeps a prison-diary of his lifelong fascination with pubescent "nymphets" The first is Annabel Leigh, who

dies of typhus, but then he finds Dolores Haze, his Lolita, in a New England town She reminds him of the little girl he loved as a boy During the course of the story, Humbert loses her to Clare Quilty, a playwright and pornographic filmmaker Humbert kills him and dies in a prison of a heart attack Lolita dies

in childbirth as delivering a stillborn daughter

Lolita is Nabokov‘s best novel because it is the book that best synthesizes

all his major characteristics as a writer:

(1) A love of language (2) Delight in word play, patterns, puzzles, and games (3) A highly intelligent, narcissistic-sociopath narrator (4) A resilient victim who is the center of Nabokov‘s sympathy (5) A pre-occupation with perception, consciousness, time, and memory

(6) A belief in fate and the existence of a great design behind what seem to be the random and irrelevant facts of ordinary life

(7) The conviction that art is a refuge from the assault of death

In its frank discussions of forbidden desire and sexuality, Lolita was

revolutionary for its time Though such writers as D H Lawrence and James Joyce had written about sexuality at the turn of the century, and though the evolution of psychology had brought the themes of sexuality and repression to the forefront of popular culture, no book had so explicitly explored the darker elements of sex and desire Nabokov was not a proponent of Freudian psychology, but he could not ignore its impact on literature or on the study of

human emotion In Lolita, he attempts to subvert the traditional views of

sexuality and psychology while pretending to pay homage to them

Lolita also represents a classic example of postmodern literature

Postmodernism arose in the early years of the twentieth century and represented,

in part, a move away from the notion that a novel should tell a realistic story from an objective perspective Postmodern writers are primarily interested in

writing that evokes the fragmentary nature of experience and the complexity of

language Humbert Humbert, the protagonist of Lolita, narrates the novel from a

highly subjective point of view, and he uses rich, sophisticated language to do

so

Lolita contains a vast variety of linguistic devices, including puns,

multilingual expressions, artistic allusions, word patterns, and references to other works These devices followed from the then-popular idea that a novel was not a fixed work of literature, but rather a more fluid, organic creation that was interconnected with other media Humbert‘s elegant and sinuous prose, however, conceals a subversive intent The beauty and intensity of the language allow readers to remain sympathetic to the pedophile protagonist and compel them to read further, despite the numerous distressing events within the novel

2.2 Analysis of the original text based on J House’s model

2.2.1 Dimension of language user

a Geographical Origin: Non-marked, standard American English

b Social class: non-marked, educated middle class

c Time: The novel was published in 1955

2.2.2 Dimension of language use

a Medium: simple: written to be read, as realized by the following

linguistic means:

 Syntactic means:

- Absence of elliptical clauses, contractions, contact parentheses and comment parentheses, and any kind of spoken language signals

such as well, you see, you know, …

- Presence of expanded postnominal modification resulting in the separation of the head of the subject noun phrase and the corresponding finite verb This construction is typical of the written mode as there are performance constraints in spoken language

- Strict use of tense mixture, especially perfect tenses such as past perfect, which are supposed to signify the written language

- Frequent presence of inversion and passive voice, which is commonly seen in formal writing

- High lexical density, which measures the ratio of content words to grammatical words In the novel, most clauses are closely and densely packed, using precise but intricate lexicon to convey

meaning

 Textual means:

- Lack of repetitions resulting in a lack of redundancy

- Frequent use of passivization as a typically written means of complex syntactic linkage for text-constitutive purposes, especially for the preservation of the theme-rheme sequence

- A wide variety of theme structures, namely simple/multiple theme, unmarked and marked theme, which couple with each other in the source text In particular, the frequent use of multiple unmarked themes proves the complexity and intricateness of clause structure

in the text

b Participation: Because of its typical features as a narrative and its

author‘s role as a storyteller, the participation elicited in the novel is mostly indirect and the involvement of the characters in the novel is portrayed through the voice of author This characterization is manifest in the following linguistic means: