Lolita

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful novel
Review: The complaints made about the perversity of this book are really quite ridiculous. Lolita is a wonderful book, beautifully written and quite a fascinating study of one of the more interesting characters one is likely to find.

Rating:
Summary: Simple Pleasures
Review: In Nabokov's 'On a Book Entitled Lolita', written a year after the novel's publication, he says at one point, "I am neither a reader nor a writer of didactic fiction... a work of fiction exists only in so far as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss... connected with other states of being where art is the norm." In truth, this overwhelmingly arrogant statement is entirely true, and depending on which side of the 'artwork' you are standing, it is the novel's downfall or salvation.

It is impossible to deny Nabokov's intelligence; like the anti-hero of Lolita, he is constantly showing it off: with wordplay, literary and philosophical references galore, and trilingualisms. His prose is stabbingly funny and sick. Humbert Humbert is viciously portrayed by himself, and Lolita is diabolical in her treatment of him. However, Nabokov's obsession with American versimilitude bogs down nearly the entirety of part two. The 'travel book' he and Lolita carry with them is referred to often as their guide, and is virtually regurgitated for the reader. Sadly, despite his mastery of the English language, there is a distinctly alien feel to all the characters. The locales are distinctly American, but the people are not, at least until the confrontation with Clare Quilty at the end. And a brilliant confrontation it is, almost redeeming the crumbling American facade of part two.

As some have suggested, the annotated version might offer more insight, and therefore, more enjoyment out of the book; but there is something irritating about this recommendation. As Nabokov implies in his afterword, the audience for this novel is himself. In the annotated version, readers become privy to all his societal jabs and obscure references, his bilingual puns, but why should we care? Well, I believe we should care only because we identify with old Humbert Humbert, or because we sympathize with his oh so destructive love impediment... and I do... but I think I'll pass on the annotations and just be satisfied with whatever simple enjoyments my humble education provides me.

Rating:
Summary: One of the great novels of the twentieth century
Review: Shakespeare's Juliet was 13-years-old, but Nabokov's Lolita was 12. The so-called "shocking" and "perverse" nature of the sexuality that Nabokov explores is lost if the nymphet is a sexually mature teenager. Incidentally, by the time they are wheeling across the country, Lolita apparently gains sexually maturity, as evidenced from the first sentence of Chapter 33, Part One which reads: "In the gay town of Lepingville I bought her four books of comics, a box of candy, a box of sanitary pads...."

Humbert's sexuality is actually a strategy in the evolutionary game. Instead of waiting until the female is sexually mature, the Humbert Humberts of the world pre-select their little darlings so that they are already in position, so to speak, when she reaches sexual maturity. Society, of course, cannot buy this. Its abhorrence is but one of the myriad taboos it concocts to protect itself from the evolutionary mechanism, a mechanism that cares not at all what society thinks, thumbing its nose, so to speak, at all societies and their ephemeral prejudices.

Among the most chilling sentences in the novel are these at the end of Part One after Lolita learns that her mother is dead. Humbert narrates: "At the hotel we had separate rooms, but in the middle of the night she came sobbing into mine, and we made it up very gently. You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go."

Also chilling is this from Lolita (half in jest, half in bitter revelation) the morning after their first night together: "You chump...You revolting creature. I was a daisy-fresh girl, and look what you've done to me. I ought to call the police and tell them you raped me. Oh, you dirty, dirty old man."

As a literary artist, Nabokov might be compared with Anthony Burgess. Both are strikingly original stylists and gifted masters of the language, and both had one very popular novel that made them famous (which of course neither thought was his best work), and both have written many erudite and precious volumes. Although I usually find Burgess's style a little too dense for me, his A Clockwork Orange was excellent. Also both Lolita and A Clockwork Orange were made into movies directed by Stanley Kubrick.

While one might imagine that women, especially feminists, would positively despise Lolita, it ain't necessarily so. I know one feminist English prof who teaches it at the university level. Understandably they emphasize the depravity of Humbert and his virtual enslavement of Lolita. But those women who do resist the novel do so because the story reveals a disagreeable fact of human sexuality they would prefer to forget, namely that for most males, youth itself is a supreme value in the old sex game. By the same token most young men do not like to see aging rockers or graying Richard Gere types or fat Hollywood producers walking off with beautiful starlets.

Although Lolita was (and is) ahead of its time, it is necessarily a "fiction" with the central character necessarily an "antihero" for the sake of the prejudices of society. Nonetheless, one of Nabokov's motivations in writing "Lolita" was to show that, however strongly society condemned their love it was a real expression of human sexuality and not a Freudian type "perversion." (Nabokov despised Freud and considered psychoanalysis a "racket.") Unfortunately (but understandably!) he was not able to overcome the taboo himself and come out of the closet. (If indeed he was in the closet.) Additionally, he discovered, I suspect, in writing the novel that not only would society (and his readership) accept only a tragic version of the story, but that inevitably, given the mores of society, such a version was the only one possible. To write the story with a happy ending, with Humbert the proud father paying for the wedding, perhaps, and sending his little love off to middle class banality with some "Dick Schiller" was unthinkable artistically and psychologically. Indeed, it would have been the common place resolution of the usual "family affair."

By the way, Nabokov wrote a precursor of Lolita, a rather longish short story entitled "The Enchanter" which was eventually published in English. "The Enchanter" is interesting but doesn't have the delicious ironic humor or anything like the scope of Lolita.

The edition with annotations by "Alfred Appel Jr." adds to the enjoyment of the novel especially if you don't know French. Most of the French phrases are translated. Be aware however that "Alfred Appel Jr." is really Vladimir Nabokov himself in pseudonym! (Would somebody please unscramble "Alfred Appel Jr"? No doubt, when unscrambled the letters would reveal the sly old master himself in some manner that I haven't been able to figure out.)

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully-written apologia for child rape
Review: I agree with trauma expert Judith Herman's analysis of this book, that it is the most beautifully written apologia for child rape ever put to paper. That this book is highly regarded speaks volumes to the hatred of women and of children that pervades our culture. I guess it should come as no surprise that in a culture where 25 percent of all women are raped in their lifetimes, and another 19 percent have to fend off rape attempts, that a book celebrating the sexual abuse of a child would be considered one of the best books ever written.

Rating:
Summary: Lucidly insane, yet crazily calm
Review: That's an apropos oxymoron taken from Humbert Humbert that best describes this paradox of a novel. Lolita's premise proves to be that of insane & perverse debauchery, yet nonetheless the prose which so aptly packages it demonstrates such skill in a crazily calm manner. Nabokov unequivocally substantiates his high praise as well-deserved with his rich use of symbolism, imagery, and his extensive use of the French language - all of which I enjoyed and appreciated. Having said that, I became somewhat disenchanted with the redundant subject matter of Humbert incessantly obsessing with 12 year-old Lolita throughout the entire novel with little character development of Lolita whatsoever. To say the non-stop use of the words "nymphet" and "pubescent" on every single page became trite and exceedingly annoying would be to put it lightly. A good book with dry humor that's worth a read, but not one of the top 5 classics of all-time as mandated by the Modern Library.

Rating:
Summary: READ THE ANNOTATED VERSION
Review: Nabokov was, perhaps, the most talented writer of this century. Beware! Lolita is an incredibly facinating story, BUT if you buy the book make sure it is the fully annotated one. Nabokov was a master in Russian and English and uses many obscure words, references and foreign phrases. You will completely miss his humorous word play without the explanations. If you like Lolita, read also the screenplay he wrote. Some of his other great works include: Pinn; Pale Fire; Speak Memory (his autobiography of his early life); The Defense; King Queen Knave (a marvelously naughty tale) and Invitation to a Beheading.

Enjoy

dave

Rating:
Summary: Not for me
Review: Somehow I spent years as an English major avoiding this novel. I found it to be very slow going. Not my type of humor (very dry!)

Rating:
Summary: A convincing love story?
Review: Nabokov's 'Lolita' is controversial because of its subject matter. He takes a horrible deviant man and by adjusting the frame around him creates a work of art. What annoys us most about Humbert is our struggle to vilify his character and de-frame him from the story that Nabokov so brilliantly composes. Nabokov somehow creates a tension in the reader: how much should we judge and indeed convict Humbert Humbert (as we are left/invited to do at the end of the novel)? While our judgment is secure in claiming his actions are completely wrong we cannot help but sympathize with the narrator.

It is widely agreed that Nabokov is a master prose stylist. His prose is beautiful. I find that certain parts sound wonderful when read out loud. Nabokov's use of alliteration helps this vocal sense of his work (e.g. 'The distraught father went on to....fetch his delicate daughter'). It is possible to hear the narrator speak rather than the reader read his words off of the page.

The most pleasant surprise for me was the humour of this work that is intertwined throughout most of the novel. Humbert's portrayal (usually negative) of the characters he comes into contact with is very funny. The puns and wordplay contribute to the playfulness of Nabokov's language (one look at the Annotated Lolita and I see how many puns I missed). It is this humour that draws in our sympathy unawares.

Nabokov is not satisfied with just having the reader deal with the Humbert/Lolita relationship. He is also critiquing postwar America. His description of motels and their evolution into hotels illustrates the dynamic scenery in the novel. The background continually changes but the main drama remains static; Humbert is just as fallen at the beginning of the novel as he is at the end.

Vanity Fair calls 'Lolita' the most convincing love story of our century. Debates will continue to rage regarding whether Humbert loves Delores. Can a sinful, obsessive, deviant man love? Is Delores made into an object? Is she an object of love? I question whether it is a love story but it definitely is a convincing story.

Rating:
Summary: The Intriguing Tour-De-Force of a Pedophile
Review: "Lolita" is one of the most well-written, interesting, and twisted novels that has ever been published. The story is so timeless that it could occur today, and it is amazing that Nabokov's criticisms of the United States after WWII still hold true in the Digital Age. Humbert Humbert, "Lolita"'s anti-hero, was psychologically blunted in youth by the death of his "first love", leading him to continually search for a replacement. His inappropriate affection for pre-adolescent girls leads his entire life - one that held much promise - to ruin. Delores Haze, though hardly an innocent herself, is still a child, a fact that Humbert ignores until her youth is depleted. Psychologically, this depiction of pedophilia and its already haunted victims, rings true. Do not let this pass you by unless reading it would prove too painful.

Rating:
Summary: Twisted and triumphant
Review: One of the most original stories that I have ever read. I love the first paragraph. It is a lovely tounge twister that propells you into the story of a disturbed man and the limits that he will break to satisfy his urges. it is one of the most incredibly crafted novels ever composed as the prose are terific. If you apreciate good wtiting than read this book.