Lolita
An Analysis of the Repulsive in Nabokov's Lolita
This paper will show why Vladimir Nabokov chose to illustrate a theme that is considered by many to be repulsive: it was a theme through which he could hold the mirror up to society and reflect what he saw happening in the world around him. When Nabokov's Lolita debuted first in Paris and then in America in the 1950s, it provoked one of two reactions (aside from the compulsion to buy -- its first American paperback printing sold out): it provoked either condemnation or disinterest. Graham Greene was the first high-profile author to recommend the novel, but his recommendation did not deter his home country (Britain) from banning the book. It appeared that what the Russian-born Nabokov had set out to do, "to disturb the cultural purity of easily-shocked America," ("Fracturing the Pawn") had in one sense been successful: the easily-shocked were shocked; they just did not happen to be in America.
In fact, in America, the novel would be adapted to the big screen not once but twice -- first by Stanley Kubrick in 1962 and then by Adrian Lyne thirty years later. The term "Lolita" itself would work its way into pop culture and come to identify young girls of a certain innocent/seductive nature, the idealized embodiment of which would be such young pop stars as Britney, Christina, Beyonce (and the list grows every year). Like all stories of corruption in the American media, the response was one of both captivation and repulsion. Just as the crime films of the early 20th century had "condemned and glorified the brutality of the underworld" (Mast 270), Lolita was remarked for having done a similar job on pedophilia. Yet, such a claim misses the mark: as Nabokov himself states, his purpose was to explore a theme that was taboo (Nabokov 314). American audiences were Protestant, Puritanical, and prurient -- and the combination was (and is) an intriguing one. Just as in the days of Prohibition, when Americans were supposed to be dry and virtuous, the iconoclastic 50s were the decade of Marilyn Monroe, pin-up queens,...
Lolita in Light of Sontag's "Morality" My experience reading Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita was a pleasant one, an aesthetic experience that, as Susan Sontag states, appealed to my consciousness. Sontag suggests that art is better understood as something that "enliven[s] our sensibility and consciousness" rather than as a blanket statement of moral code. In other words, genuine works of art operate within the aesthetic sphere of experience and do not aim
It is very clear that he can be much more dark and scheming than he seems to be. That is illustrated by just how far he will go to possess Lolita - marrying her mother and then literally abducting her after her mother dies. In addition, they both are tragic figures who never get what they really want. Humbert discovers he is capable of love, and that he loves Lolita,
Humbert In Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov creates the character of a clear anti-hero in Humbert, a man who has is guilty of pedophilia, possibly rape and murder. The bulk of the book, however, is devoted to Humbert's narration of his affair with his stepdaughter, a "nymphet" named Dolores Haze or, in Humbert's mind, Lolita. For Humbert, the various forms of love he feels for the young girl are inextricably linked with his
Female Lolita Nabokov's famous novel, Lolita, would have some important and essential differences had it been written by a woman. A female writer would have created a more complex and sympathetic characterization for Lolita, expanding on Nabokov's treatment of Lolita as simply a vulgar personification of the qualities of the nymphet. The impact of Humbert's obsession with Lolita and their sexual affair would have been explored more thoroughly by a female
Nabokov's "Lolita" Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" is perhaps one of the most famous novels of the Twentieth Century. For not only did Nabokov dare to explore the forbidden subject of an older man's obsessive love and lustful desire for a young girl, he did so with sheer poetry and language mastery. Joyce Carol Oates once said that "Lolita is one of our finest American novels, a triumph of style and vision" (Oates Pp).
Vladimir Nobokov's book titled Lolita, is a story of a pedophilic romance between a girl and an older man. Famous for its eroticism and exploration of a taboo part of human sexuality, it delves into what makes a girl appealing to a man like Humbert and the consequences behind their affair. The novel discusses through a series of events, the sexuality of the 12- to 16-year-old Lolita and Humbert, a
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