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Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

Robert said:
The comment about Stockholm Syndrome was due to comments some of the readers wrote about HH.
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I suppose that I should add that I understand that Stockholm Syndrome usually refers to the victums of a crime, but I believe it fits since HH's arguments are good enough to convince the readers that he is not a monster.
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Very interesting observation, Robert. The fact that we're not all screaming for his blood would seem to indicate that he has 'won us over' at least to some extent - and he's a self-admitted child rapist.
 
Happy Birthday Lolita

Don't Know If Anyone Posted This:

Lolita Appeared In The Us In 1958 ...
We Are Celebrating Its 50th Anniversary.
 
Nabokov is genius. I've ready several of his books, The Defense being my favorite - Luzhin is such a great character - and I have loved them all. Lolita was the first one I read, being inspired by the great film adaption by Kubrick, and I thought it was fantastic. Vladimir writes about something so vile in such an endearing way. Priceless! His use of language is so great!
 
Yes Overman, you put that exactly right:
"writes about something so vile in such an endearing way"
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He attacks both our reason and our emotions with his way of telling the story, until at the end we hardly know what to make of Humbert.
 
Lolita exposed

HI
If you have the opportunity to read the Annotated edition of LOLITA you will find yourself immersed in so much information that will enhance the whole experience. Nabakov collaborated with the young annotater and the insights both escavate in the novel are awesome. Everything from the Alice in Wonderland references and allusions to the "lead balloon" hints of pedophelia and homosexuality are limned with deft hands. The film of course must be judged upon the merits of the medium into which it falls.
 
Lolita the 2 films

antony48 said:
Read the book… It is really very emotional... Movie is something different.
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antony48 I just realized that you didn't specify which of the two movies you referred to ... the first with James Mason, Shelly Winters, Sue Lyon and Peter Sellers is a classic and should not be missed

the 2nd w/Jeremy Irons is a bust ... after the film was released Irons admitted he hated the film, didn't have any chemistry w/his co-stars and was very sorry he had anything to do w/it

so while books and films are separate mediums which shouldn't be compared to each other one film to another is fair game

enjoy
 
GERBAM said:
antony48 I just realized that you didn't specify which of the two movies you referred to ... the first with James Mason, Shelly Winters, Sue Lyon and Peter Sellers is a classic and should not be missed

the 2nd w/Jeremy Irons is a bust ... after the film was released Irons admitted he hated the film, didn't have any chemistry w/his co-stars and was very sorry he had anything to do w/it

so while books and films are separate mediums which shouldn't be compared to each other one film to another is fair game enjoy
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Thank you. I keep in mind the second movie. I will be order the first and maybe change my opinion. But generally very difficult to repeat the same emotional wave and author style. Movie is a separate art.
 
antony48
yes you are right on ... film is completely separate art from book and should be judged on its own merits

i hope you get to see the original LOLITA it's awesome
 
LOLITA smutty?
I have come to these postings 5 years late I guess and agree with the advice of mothers to approach anyone who censors what we read. Even as adults, we can be confronted by people who look at us cross-eyed if we're reading something THEY deem 'filth'. You know who I mean, the folks who want to ban schools and libraries from allowing the population to read HUCKLEBERRY FINN or THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK or books like those in the NARNIA series. Suddenly fantasy, sci fi, some mysteries and romantic novels become off limits. HUH!
When our children don't have to see war, murder, rape, kidnapping, torture and the rest of the horrors we humans foist on one another, will be the time to wonder if they can read and handle Mark Twain or C. S. Lewis.

The person who originally posted here has probably read LOLITA by now ... lol lol lol ... and more power to her but to call that masterpiece smutty speaks volumes to a misreading of the story.

ENJOY
 
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
A Review (re-posted WLF)

It’s highly likely that by this coming Saturday (12/09), I will be finished with Nabokov’s Lolita. I am enjoying it at leisure. So far the novel is a masterful world of literature. The story is perversely, and clearly obscene which might be the oddity in capturing so many readers focus. I enjoy how each player plays off the other; the diction so vitally precise and flowing freely. Nabokov has his own voice: That’s surely a fact, no doubt it. His words push you along in a fiercely rapid, smooth, and, at times, staccato pace.

I must admit that for me It was somewhat difficult to find the groove in his writing (like I had with Atwood), but once I found it - his rhythm - I was (am) hooked. Detail is one of his grand talents, no question.

Lolita is definitely a masterpiece that demands more than one read. Beautiful novel!
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Seeking new ways to portray Nabokov's Lolita | Books | The Guardian

I like the one in the middle:
Some-of-the-entries-in-Be-007.jpg
 
I keep meaning to reread Lolita. Actually I'd like to read a slew of Nabokov's works, but I definitely want to get this one in again. I have the annotated edition sitting on my shelf... but the audiobook narrated by Jeremy Irons would be more tempting...
 
I just came across the phrase (after HH describes Lolita sitting on his knee, trying to decipher his lust-driven writings, expecting a kiss like the stars in Hollywood do) "... my learned reader whose eyebrows, I suspect, have by now traveled all the way to the back of his bald head..."

My eyebrows have instead furrowed lower over my eyes (and I have a very hairy head!)... But then, I suspect, that Humbert expects that only bald and aging psycho-analysts would read his work.

sparkchaser said:
I'll start with the English editions first.
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Oh, and here:
aajitq.files.wordpress.com_2012_07_lolita_book_cover.jpeg
And one favourite:
awww.from_cover_to_cover.com_wp_content_uploads_2011_08_lolita.jpg
 
For those interested, the Annotated Edition is the way to go. It clarifies Nabokov's obscure allusions and adds to the overall understanding/enjoyment of Nabokov as an author.
 
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What a good a timely discussion! I blew the dust off my old copy that I read when we had the BOTM Lolita discussion. I completely forgot the entire Annabel episode, which invites the practice of sloppy psychiatry. The tug is strong in light of:

When I try to analyze my own cravings, motives, actions and so forth, I surrender to a sort of retrospective imagination which feeds the analytic faculty with boundless alternatives and which causes each visualized route to fork and re-fork without end in the maddeningly complex prospect of my past.

One could argue this is simple justification on the part of HH and perhaps it is in light of V.N.'s hatred for Freud. A subtle swipe at the crank Viennese hypnotist soul gazer?
 
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