Violence, Manipulation and a Persecuted Heroine in Vladimir Nabokov´s Lolita and John Fowles´s Collector

This bachelor thesis deals with two postmodern novels: The Collector (1963) of the British novelist John R. Fowles and Lolita (1955) by the American writer Vladimir V. Nabokov. At first the thesis focuses on a brief overview of both authors' lives, as well as on the postmodern tendencies in their works, moreover it provides a short description of postmodernism itself. Next, the main features of the Gothic novel and its founders are described along with the characters of their major works. With respect to the Gothic tradition, Edgar A. Poe's short stories are introduced with the emphasis on his evil manipulative characters. Subsequently, the previous antiheroes and heroines from the Gothic novels are compared to the contemporary characters from The Collector and Lolita. In the following chapters, the thesis pays attention to a brief summary of both novels and then it focuses on the comparative analysis of selected themes: surroundings and their function, the loss of freedom, narrators and their communication with readers, conscience and the loss of identity