From the first, Humbert Humbert is by his searing shame. In the opening chapters, the reader becomes acquainted the man as he slowly falls for and wins over his beautiful, 12-year-old housemate Lolita. His shame does not come from a fear of hell—though he mentions it—nor does it come clothed in the garb of a […]
Defining the sexuality of children has long been a part of civilized society. Foucault’s idea of the strategy “pedagogization of children’s sexuality” is that it is founded on the belief that children are highly sexually beings, that need to be constantly monitored an controlled or they will explore and use their bodies in unacceptable ways. […]
The false sense of sexual bravado in Part One of Lolita appeals instantly to me. This is central to Humbert’s supposed expertise in nympholepsy. Constantly, he attempts to convince the supposed frigid, all-female jury that he is at all times vulnerable, intelligent, deliberate and spontaneous with his monstrous passion. Humbert attempts to convince himself of […]
This being my second time reading Lolita, I went for an annotated version, that I might pick up on a few of the frequent and obscure references dispersed throughout the novel, or at least have the translations of Humbert’s French conveniently compiled. Similarly, in approaching the text from a more critical readership, I expected this […]
The truth is in the details. Whence did Humbert Humbert’s strange and unceasing desire for nymphets arise? Reading the first part of Lolita, I found myself frequently looking back to pick up details I had missed. Despite the depth of information about Humbert’s fascination, many other things (like the physical setting and other mundane details) […]
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 […]
If you look at the color wheel, you would notice two “colors” decidedly missing from it: black and white. It has long been debated whether either should actually be considered a color, since white is more of a light reflection than an actual color, and black is the absence of light and color. The grayness […]
Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel Lolita is equally greeted with acclaim for its rich literary style, and horror at the author’s attempt to rationalize sexual abuse of minors. If this written work were to have been based on a true story, much of the praise would be exchanged for gasps of outrage. However, perhaps due to […]
We are in the age of exhibitionism! Sex is an exciting product. It has market value! Who needs prostitution when you have the Internet? I found the cyber exhibit extremely entertaining. We are under the complete illusion that we can keep our sexual discourse somewhat private online. Even those amateur porn stars have this illusion […]
