“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.“ This is the infamous way Vladimir Nabokov begins his world renown novel “Lolita” with the chilling musings of the main character Humbert Humbert. The book is basically in two parts; The foreword is narrated by John Ray, Jr., Ph.D., three years after the deaths of Humbert and Lolita. The rest of the novel is the story of Humbert and his erie fascination with young girls- especially his infatuation with Dolores “Lolita” Haze. The book was written from 1949-1955, and was first published in 1955. Where technique is concerned, this book is sublime. Nabokov ensnares the reader by having the narration voice be Hunbert, and you are taken into the inner workings of his mangled mind.
“Lolita” was actually first published in France, by a pornographic press, and soon after its publication it was banned in France by officials for being “obscene.” Officials in England, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa all ended up banning the book as well for the same reason. Many authors have created characters or words in their writings which have leapt off of the page and come to life. The most notable example I can think of right now is Charles Dickens and his character Ebeneezer Scrooge. What things come to mind when you hear that name? Hopefully the unflattering characteristics of being removed, judgmental, a penny-pincher, frugal, and harsh are among those which arise, and if not, perhaps reading “A Christmas Carol” again would be beneficial. Nabokov's young character of Lolita is now synonymous with an oversexed teenage siren. Lolita, like Scrooge, does get redemption, however Humbert is an entirely different matter. Regardless, Lolita's story is legend, and not part of modern literary vernacular.
I found “Lolita” hard to finish, because the entire time I was reading it I was uncomfortable. It is not an easy book. Because of the stylistic choices Nabokov made, he is able to make all of the characters so very real, at least for me, and then to layer that with the fact that the entire book is about a grown man with a deep fascination and obsession with Lolita- I get goosebumps just thinking about it, and not the good kind! Overall- beautiful writing regarding a nasty subject.
A thought for the afternoon:
Karma is like a boomerang- what ever you throw into the word will come back to you, however there is no rebound with books.
-BookBender
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