Looking Through Lolita's Glasses: Intertextual Relations between Nabokov’s Lolita and Coetzee’s Disgrace

Abstract

This thesis is inspired by the striking intertextuality between the novels Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee. It examines the allusions and similarities between these novels, which up until now have not been studied extensively in current literary research. Firstly, it will show the references Disgrace makes to Lolita. Then it will illustrate how transgressive desire appears to be a trope in both novels for wider issues such as the abuse of power relations. Finally, this paper will show how Disgrace uses sex as a metaphor for Colonialism and (post-) Apartheid. Moreover, it reveals that a political metaphor of Communism is not so clear in Lolita.