Published in Books Are Our Superpowe
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Light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
— Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Great. another game of is it a Lana Del Rey lyric or the opening to a novel centering around a pedophiliac rapist?
The answer? Both.
You see, we as a society have failed Vladimir Nabokov.
We manipulated Lolita into a romanticization of paedophilic relationships, and the sort-of protagonist Dolores Haze into an icon of the ‘femme fatale’ (seductive woman) aesthetic with her characteristic heart-shaped sunglasses, red lipstick, petticoats, laces, and frills basically taking over Tumblr in the 2010s.
Even Nabokov’s insistence that the covers of Lolita should not feature a little girl was soon forgotten.
It’s been a few weeks since my finishing of Nabokov’s novel and like always, I have some thoughts.
And two of those thoughts are, damn that was a good book, and, maybe one of my favorites of all time.
Here’s why.
What Makes a Book Great?
IN MY OPINION (sorry that was aggressive), two very important features of a great book is its ability to take you into its world and to make you think.
Two features that I think Nabokov’s Lolita ate up and left absolutely no crumbs.
But before we get onto that let me start by…
Addressing the elephant in the room
(If you have already read Lolita or are familiar with the content, feel free to skip to the next section)
The book famously centers around the lust of Humbert Humbert (for the sake of not typing out 14 letters we will simply refer to him as Humbert), a man in his late thirties, who lusts after young girls, or ‘nymphettes’, due to an unfulfilled and rather tragic romance when he was a teenager.
Readers watch in terror as Humbert marries Charlotte Haze, who in shock runs onto the streets and is killed by a truck upon her discovery of her husband’s desire for her daughter Dolores Haze, whom he refers to as Lolita.
“She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms, she was always Lolita”.
The novel then unravels a series of abuse and rape that is inflicted upon Lolita by Humbert disguised to the readers as a beautifully written love story.
Substance + Style = Chaos
As you can see from my genius equation above, I have explained what I think is the root of the controversy surrounding ‘Lolita’, the contrast between the substance and the style.
This, ladies and gentlemen of the jury (see what I did there), is the culprit for all of the accusations of the romanticizing of inappropriate relationships, the defending of rape and pedophilia, and the general insanity cast against Lolita.
It presents Humbert, who is objectively a narcissist, rapist, and pedophile, as a well-spoken, attractive, and even romantic character.
The novel depicts Humbert’s pedophilia as ‘true love’ and seemingly excuses his abuses (damn, I could be a rapper) of a literal child as an idealistic display of passion.
“I just don’t know what is wrong with people that think this is okay. I don’t care how well-written this book is considered to be. I wouldn’t recommend it to any age.” — a concerned parent to Common Sense Media Reviews for Lolita
The various movie adaptations of Lolita, especially the 1997 Adrian Lyne adaptation, are the embodiments of the problems that society has with Lolita.
Dominique Swain, who plays Dolores, and Jeremy Irons, the actor for Humbert, are both attractive people. The styling and aesthetic contained within the film are probably what comes to mind when Lolita is mentioned.
I mean the amount of screenshots from the film with an edgy love quote on it I’ve seen on my Instagram feed is a little crazy.
In the movie, they upped the age of Dolores Haze to sixteen despite her being twelve in the original book, this contributes to a larger problem of the movie adaptations, that it quite literally glamorizes the storyline, a storyline that is not directly derived from the original text.
In the novel, the story is told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator who we know is not trustworthy, however, when it comes to the film, we view it from a third-person perspective which hints that what is being shown on screen is the reality.
The beautifully styled sixteen-year-old Dolores Haze (who looks much older than sixteen in the movie) and the broodingly handsome Humbert transform the film from a psychological thriller into a somewhat tragic romance story.
But that wasn’t Nabokov’s intention.
So why do I like it so much?
I am in no way shape or form defending pedophilia. I just wanted to get that out of the way.
But that is not what we are talking about.
You don’t have to support murder for you to like a murder mystery book, so I think it’s a rather dumb assumption for one to make that someone who likes Lolita as a novel has to have support for pedophilia or any of the other disgusting acts that occur within the novel.
Talking about the novel specifically here, remember the two features I mentioned above of what makes a book so great?
I know, I know, that was quite a while back so let me remind you:
- ability to draw you into its world
- ability to make you think
Let’s tackle the first one first.
Nabokov is an absolutely outstanding author. I have rarely been so captivated by the world-building of a story as much as I have with “Lolita”.
The control that Nabokov has over the dynamics of the story, contrasting intense emotional scenes where Lolita finds out that her mother is dead, with light-hearted slow-moving narration of a road trip down the American countryside, is something to marvel at. And all of this was written with his masterful use of language.
His profound understanding of human psychology allows the characters to come to life in a way that is real.
Here’s probably a controversial opinion but I think the way that Nabokov characterized Humbert allows us as readers to coil back in disgust at his actions but at the same time at the back of our minds pity this man who can’t seem to escape his childhood traumas whether that be his unfulfilled and tragic Riviera love story as a teenager, or his mother dying when he was an infant which may have been the root cause of his perverse attraction (sorry to get all Freudian up in here).
At times, perhaps under the influence of the manipulative Humbert, we see him as but a sad man who has this uncontrollable desire that is rejected by society but is consuming him from the inside.
To speak in Freudian terms, Humbert’s clash between his id (impulsive desires) and superego (one’s idealized self-image) is something that I think a lot of us can relate to, perhaps not to the extreme degree that is experienced by Humbert but you know what I mean.
It’s sad to think that many people whose sexual identity diverted from traditionally established norms probably have felt this too, especially back in the day and it really makes us feel the humanity of Humbert in a way that does not excuse nor justify his actions.
This is the brilliance of the novel. Fiction reveals truths about humanity in a way that it is encountered in real life, under masks and facades.
This leads me to my next point.
It makes you think…like a lot
I remember many sleepless nights when I foolishly decided that Lolita should be the book that I read before bed.
Here are some questions that I had whilst reading.
- Does the garden of the Haze house resemble the garden of Eden with Mrs. Haze as Eve and Lolita as the forbidden fruit?
- Did Humbert have any guilt or remorse for his attraction to little girls that was not based on law?
I find it rather ironic that a text written by an author who ‘in starting to work on a book has no other purpose than to get rid of that book’ had created what had become such a thought-provoking masterpiece.
It allows us to grapple with complex subjects and dilemmas where our capabilities as intellectuals are pushed to the extremes.
I agree that some of the topics touched upon by this book are disgusting and that the misinterpretations of this book by pop culture may result in some prejudice against its source.
But I do want to mention that just because something is not represented doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
You would be mistaken to assume that there are no longer cases similar to that of Lolita in the present day, Lolita itself being suggested to have been influenced by the real-life kidnapping of young Sally Horner.
As the fictitious author and editor of Humbert’s memoir said,
‘As a case history, “Lolita” will become, no doubt, a classic in psychiatric circles. As a work of art, it transcends its expiatory aspects, and still more important to us than scientific significance and literary worth, is the ethical impact the book should have on the serious reader; for in this poignant personal study there lurks a general lesson; the wayward child, the egotistic mother, the pantic maniac- these are not only vivid characters in a unique story: they warn us of dangerous trends; they point out potent evils. “Lolita” should make all of us- parents, social workers, educators- apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world.’
And with that, I’m signing off,
Keep hustling my little peppers,
stay savvy.
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