What was popular in Ancient Rome is no longer in vogue….
What gets me about this novel is how delicate and seductive Nabokov’s prose is. What makes the story of Humbert Humbert so compelling? The narrator describes himself as handsome, gentle and scholarly. He tries hard to win our favor by explaining his tragic love story with Annabel and by showing how hard he tried to stay away from soiling little girls by frequenting prostitutes and getting married. But these evil urges of his are completely out of control as he struggles between justifying his desire and indulging in it with shameful bliss.
At the Museum of Sex it was stated that the number 1 Google search for porn was “Youth”. What is the appeal of the “Barely Legal” and “Virgins”? Interestingly enough there was a chalkboard in the same exhibit with the question “What would you never search?” And someone wrote “Child porn” and there were arrows from at least three other people saying “I second that” and “Same here”. Despite there being societal norms for age limits and sex no one can deny the allure of youth. The “nymphet ages” between 9 and 14 I have noticed personally from being a camp counselor are the ages when children have the most energy and charm. This is an age when a child’s natural sexuality is starting to bloom but it is still rooted in the innocence of youth. These are the ages when the Foucaudian paradox of children’s sexuality is most evident. My mother was instinctively extremely protective of me during my tween years, barely letting me out of sight until I was in high school. She later told me that this was because children of this age are most vulnerable to molestation, being open and beautiful, and that because she was a single mother she had to guard the hen house with all her power. And it worked. But I cringed reading about Lolita being cornered; knowing that even though this is fictitious the story is very real and the men that do this believe it to be true love. And it is. Because Humbert Humbert says himself that he is not interested in sex. Sex is banal, ordinary and animalistic. “A greater endeavor lures me on: to fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets.” I would compare this breed of man to a vampire. The hunger that dwells in Humbert Humbert can never be properly satiated. What he is trying to obtain is beyond the physical; it is the magic of Lolita that will never truly be his. Lolita’s magic will fade too and I am even beginning to notice it wane as Humbert Humbert is forcing her out of her own childlike innocence. Lolita is the powerful one in this relationship, but she is simultaneously trapped and possessed by Humbert. In some ways Humbert Humbert views himself as innocent and Lolita as the demon. I can only imagine as the novel continues that Lolita will become more aware of her power (she already finds small ways to manipulate him) and will be the cause of his downfall. But this is small compensation for Humbert has always and forever wrapped himself around her.
I would just like to say that this is the best book I’ve read since Crime and Punishment (when I was 15).
Tags: incest, Lolita, pedophilia, statutory rape
March 17th, 2013 at 11:07 pm
“Seductive” is EXACTLY the word for it. Nabokov’s writing is sexy, regardless of subject matter. I think that’s why this book makes so many people uncomfortable.
March 19th, 2013 at 9:44 am
I second that. Not the child porn comment, but that Nabokov’s writing is seductive. He paints himself in a light that draws the reader to conjure up a vision as him as a traditional “bad boy” showing the ropes to the innocent “good girl,” and inducting her into the world of the ars erotica. In a way it seems as if Nabokov is looking for Lolita’s innocence to rub off on him, but that innocence is ephemeral, and in the process of transferring a bit of its energy to himself, he is destroying both that power and himself altogether.