Professional paper
Trauma and Intertextuality in Kate Elizabeth Russell’s My Dark Vanessa and Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita
Mila Bikić
Abstract
Influenced by both Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and the #MeToo movement, which was marked by numerous women sharing their experiences of sexual abuse, American author Kate Elizabeth Russell penned her 2020 debut novel My Dark Vanessa. The novel explores an inappropriate sexual relationship between 15-year-old pupil Vanessa Wye and 42-year-old English teacher Jacob Strane, which is reminiscent of the relationship between the characters Dolores Haze and Humbert Humbert of Nabokov’s Lolita. The aim of this essay is to examine the instances of intertextuality between the novels Lolita and My Dark Vanessa, as well as where they diverge. A central focus is placed on the disparate approaches to the representation of trauma in these two novels: whereas Dolores Haze’s trauma is hidden by the radically unreliable narrator Humbert Humbert, Vanessa’s psychological state is explored meticulously, and as such is characteristic of a trauma novel. Essential to this exploration is the employment of a non-linear narrative, which serves to underscore mental confusion and chaos present in the minds of victims of traumatic events such as sexual abuse. Narrated in the first person by Vanessa, this narrative technique allows readers to intimately engage with both the traumatic events and the ensuing psychological aftermath represented by Vanessa.
Keywords
Lolita; My Dark Vanessa; sexual abuse; #MeToo Movement; trauma novel
Hrčak ID:
318479
URI
Publication date:
17.11.2022.
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