TRUE LOVE OR FETISH: ABSTRACT AND MATERIALISTIV OBSESSIONS IN NABOKOV’S LOLITA AND PAMUK’S THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

Abstract

My thesis project is a combination of a comparative analysis of the two novels, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence, and a social-anthropological survey of the visitors of the Museum of Innocence located in Istanbul, which is constructed in tandem with the novel of the same name, about the agency of objects exhibited in the museum. My primary focus is the obsession of the two protagonists, Humbert Humbert and Kemal, towards their love interests, Lolita and Füsun, which is manifested in the forms of art that the protagonists create after losing their beloved ones. I apply psychoanalytical literary criticism, the theory that provides deeper insights into characters, themes, and symbolism, to analyze the protagonists’ obsessions. In my psychoanalytical literary analysis, I rely on Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Irvin Yalom’s theories and readings because they represent major eras in the history of psychoanalysis such as classical, structuralist, and existentialist psychoanalysis, respectively. Moreover, I provide an anthropological and historical overview of exhibiting collections in museums which is a true demonstration of the agency of things, the theory that I apply when I evaluate the answers that I acquired from the survey I conducted in Istanbul. I believe my work is important because it shows how the obsessions of the novels’ protagonists can be viewed through the lens of three major psychoanalysts’ theories and the theory of agency of objects.