Metaforer och materialiseringar. Om apor hos Vladimir Nabokov och Sara Stridsberg
(2013) In Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap p.5-20- Abstract
- By tradition the humanities have been anthropocentrically focused on the lives of human beings in arts and literature. The limited analysis of what other species do in literature – and of the different relations between humans and animals that are represented – has sustained the
notion of a hierachical divide between humans and other species, thereby reducing the ethical potential of literature to resist that dualism.
The growing field of human–animal studies proposes that we return to our artefacts and epistemologies, with new attention to human–animal relations. Inspired by this movement, forefronted by scholars such as Cary Wolfe and Sara McHugh, this article offers a comparative reading of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita... (More) - By tradition the humanities have been anthropocentrically focused on the lives of human beings in arts and literature. The limited analysis of what other species do in literature – and of the different relations between humans and animals that are represented – has sustained the
notion of a hierachical divide between humans and other species, thereby reducing the ethical potential of literature to resist that dualism.
The growing field of human–animal studies proposes that we return to our artefacts and epistemologies, with new attention to human–animal relations. Inspired by this movement, forefronted by scholars such as Cary Wolfe and Sara McHugh, this article offers a comparative reading of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1955) and Sara Stridsberg’s Darling River (2010). In Lolita Nabokov makes frequent use of animal and especially monkey metaphors, and carries out an ongoing animalization of his characters. In Stridsberg’s novel, which is written as a kind
of hypertext of Lolita, Nabokov’s animalizations are interestingly molded and materialized into one physical creature: the caged schimpanzee Ester. The central concern of the study is to understand the process and effects of this materialization. I argue that the consequential reorientation of the reader to a non-hierarchical species discourse is a major ethical feat of the novel. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3972756
- author
- Björck, Amelie LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Metaphors and Materializations. On the Apes and Monkeys in Vladimir Nabokov and Sara Stridsberg
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- human-animal studies, anthropocentrism, animals in literature, literary materialization, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, Sara Stridsberg
- in
- Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 5 - 20
- publisher
- Föreningen för utgivande av Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap
- ISSN
- 1104-0556
- project
- Nosce te ipsum. On literary engagements between apes and humans in literature after Darwin.
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- eeb15c1f-a2de-4e6e-a06b-e603e6bda871 (old id 3972756)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:24:44
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 20:15:47
@article{eeb15c1f-a2de-4e6e-a06b-e603e6bda871,
abstract = {{By tradition the humanities have been anthropocentrically focused on the lives of human beings in arts and literature. The limited analysis of what other species do in literature – and of the different relations between humans and animals that are represented – has sustained the<br/><br>
notion of a hierachical divide between humans and other species, thereby reducing the ethical potential of literature to resist that dualism.<br/><br>
The growing field of human–animal studies proposes that we return to our artefacts and epistemologies, with new attention to human–animal relations. Inspired by this movement, forefronted by scholars such as Cary Wolfe and Sara McHugh, this article offers a comparative reading of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1955) and Sara Stridsberg’s Darling River (2010). In Lolita Nabokov makes frequent use of animal and especially monkey metaphors, and carries out an ongoing animalization of his characters. In Stridsberg’s novel, which is written as a kind<br/><br>
of hypertext of Lolita, Nabokov’s animalizations are interestingly molded and materialized into one physical creature: the caged schimpanzee Ester. The central concern of the study is to understand the process and effects of this materialization. I argue that the consequential reorientation of the reader to a non-hierarchical species discourse is a major ethical feat of the novel.}},
author = {{Björck, Amelie}},
issn = {{1104-0556}},
keywords = {{human-animal studies; anthropocentrism; animals in literature; literary materialization; Vladimir Nabokov; Lolita; Sara Stridsberg}},
language = {{swe}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{5--20}},
publisher = {{Föreningen för utgivande av Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap}},
series = {{Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap}},
title = {{Metaforer och materialiseringar. Om apor hos Vladimir Nabokov och Sara Stridsberg}},
year = {{2013}},
}