We are venturing into the realm of...weird, (demented?) and boy will it be glorious❗️
Vladimir Nabokov was nothing short than a certified G. We will talk about him in detail further on, but know that even though he was born, and lived his early life in, Russia. His command of the English language was unrivaled by most native-speaking English people. 😁
What did he do with these powers you ask? Write a book from the perspective of a pedophile of course! 😛
In all seriousness, dumbing this book down to its essence does a great disservice. And we will explore the highs and lows of this groundbreaking work of fiction shortly. But first:
Obligatory 📢 SPOILER FREE 📢 (kinda). As always, it's written with the longtime reader in mind. 😉
Why I said 'kinda' up there 🔺 is since we will discuss the premise and implications of this book in heavy detail. If you wanna go in fresh I warn you that this book can be very triggering for some people. If your composition doesn't make you skirmish at its topics then I highly recommend it. 😌 But yeah, I assumed fair warnings were in order.
Note: All quotations in this article are excerpts from Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita", 1955.
“It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.”
Now, let me reiterate for the folks in the back:
Vladimir Nabokov was nothing short of a certified G
The man grew up in Russia and published his first four or five novels there. Only got international acclaim when he moved to Berlin. Now, get this. Mr. Nabokov had a handle on the English language with such force, he could crush boulders. Literally. 💪 Even though he was Russian, his proficiency in English earned him many jealous colleagues over the years. 😁
And with good reason, his phrasing and intentional use of words makes this book what it is. in the hands of a lesser author, the subject matter presented here would shatter in their hands. 🖐 The gutsiness of writing something this vile, yet this poignant, takes nothing short of a master at his craft.
And make no mistake: Vladimir Nabokov was a master at his craft. 💯💯💯
“Lolita, 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. 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. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.”
The novel follows our 'protagonist', Humbert Humbert (a pseudonym, not his real name), as he defends himself in court in front of a jury. The book, and this is where Mr. Nabakov's genius comes in, is told from his perspective - i.e. an unreliable narrator. Humbert is a literature professor. This setup allows Mr. Nabakov to completely flex his literary muscles as the novel is basically told by Humbert. 👌
Now let's shoot the horse and be done with it, eh? Humbert, a man in his thirties, is in love with, Delores (whom he privately calls Lolita) a girl no older than twelve years old. 🤢
Delores is the tragic victim in all of this. Her life gets upended because of Humbert's actions. And her tale is nothing short but tragic. 😭 The fact that we are reading this book from the perspective of this...well, monster, makes it even more engrossing.
Speaking of which:
“I knew I had fallen in love with Lolita forever, but I also knew she would not be forever Lolita.”
Now, Humbert, the sick #&$% that he is, describes the events that transpire as if the relationship he had with this poor girl was consensual. And it is in no way consensual. But this is where Mr. Nabakov's mastery of the English language will lead the casual reader to believe they are reading a love story. 🤢 Not truly, but it's meant to confuse the reader in such a way.
Humbert is truly despicable in every way, but his command of the English language makes you wonder if he really is that despicable. 😅 Well, he is. But I think Mr. Nabokov was trying to make an intentional point with this. We've seen it in our society today as well, when speakers/influencers/people of import, get judged by their words and how they wield them, rather than how they implement them in their lives. 😬
Humbert's plan is to do just that, to woe the jury into sympathizing with his case - and what else can he do, really? The fact that Mr. Nabokov is so convincing in his portrayal of a demented mind such as Humbert's, that the first-time reader is left wondering what actually is going on.
There are clues to what actually happened. Even though the reader isn't getting the full story, or a delusional version of the story, Mr. Nabokov laid out enough bread crumbs for the observant reader to follow. This is done so skilfully that it awes me to no end. 😮 I can only dream of the ability to one day create writing as sophisticated as this text. In that aspect: it's a masterpiece.
Mr. Nabakov didn't finish the exam with flying colors though. And far be it from me to criticize a master of his craft to this extent. 😅 But I'm gonna do it anyway. 😁
“Words without experience are meaningless.”
So ye, I'll just come out and say it: Mr. Nabokov is a victim of his own hubris! // I'm kidding! kinda... not really...
I think, and I'm gonna be presumptuous here, that Mr. Nabakov fell into the same trap as a lot of other great writers. i.e. falling in love with their work too much. Now, when I say trap, I am not insinuating that he did something he didn't want to, or that he was unhappy and had to do something against his will. Nope, he was just being pretentious. 😄
And this is a pretentious text, no doubt about it. I know a lot of people that would hate reading it for that mere fact. And I think it gets worse as the piece evolves.
Put it simply, Mr. Nabakov loved the English language, and all its tricks, so much, that he wanted everyone to see him flexing. 😆 And the design of Humbert let him do just that, without sacrificing the literary-concept correlation.
But that's not this book's main offense, or rather, it's not the heart of it. ❤️ No, this book's greatest sin is it gets boring. 😱
Now, of course, taste differs. But this is my article, so ye. 😛
The aforementioned wordiness of this piece is the main culprit behind this cardinal sin. It truly starts reading more like a transcript, rather than a novel. IMHO the plot/characters/story should always come first, in any work of fiction. Again, not everyone will agree with me that this Lolita becomes a boring read the more you read about it. But it doesn't help that it also becomes super depressing. 😅
The book I'd say straddles this line as well as it could, between disgusting and depressing. Which again, couldn't have been done by a lesser author. It's just the mountain of dread that you feel sometimes while reading it can be...hard to read through, let's just say. 🙃
“And the rest is rust and stardust.”
In my opinion, a piece can still be flawed and be a masterpiece. I've talked about this before, but nothing is ever perfect. Only labeling things that are perfect as masterpieces would defeat the point of the word. 🤷♂ So yes, this book is a masterpiece.
It accomplishes what it sets out to do with startling detail and precision. Perhaps a bit too well, as we just laid out. 😅 But that was clearly Mr. Nabokov's intent, and I'm sure he knew it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. He did it anyway though. And when an author of his caliber makes a statement and makes it well, it's our duty as readers to try and understand it.
This book's impact on pop culture can be felt today. It has several theatre and movie adaptations that don't really live up to the source material. But that's ok, this story was meant to be read through Humbert's perspective, anything else would just be a lesser form of a subject matter that needs all the nuance it can afford.
Thanks for reading. 😌
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Gotta be frank, this wasn't the easiest write-up. 😅 I respect this book so much for what it accomplishes, but at the same time, I'm scared to talk of it. Comes with the territory I guess.
I really don't know what book I'll do next. Probably return to my fantasy roots. But we'll see...
Obligatory Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙
Stay safe and look after one another! 🙌
Return from Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov - REVIEW to Јоцко's Web3 Blog
