Vladimir Nabokov's Classic Novel "Lolita"

shubham singhshubham singh:

India on Oct 14, 2023

Sarah: This book is quite disturbing. But if you can make it through the first act, you can make it through till the end. I wanted this edition because it had the least sexualized cover I was able to find. But, when I received my copy, the cover had an image of a little girl's legs in a short skirt. Pretty gross. It was a used copy, so be aware, you might receive something different than advertised. Good condition, beautifully written, and despicable in every way. Good luck, reader.

Canada on Oct 12, 2023

Tom: In the 1940s, the world was shocked by the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. In the 1950s, the world received another shock by the publication of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. After it was published in France in 1955, it was banned there at the end of 1956, at least for awhile. It wasn’t until 1958 that it was published in the United States. Despite the novel being available without restriction today, its controversy continues. It is almost universally accepted that Humbert Humbert is a pedophile and a rapist. His confession, in the form of this book, does not engender forgiveness. However, as people decry the villainy of Humbert Humbert, they often say “but isn’t it so well written?” People feel morally superior as they read the book and express their enjoyment of it in that guilt-free way.

In the description of Lolita in a list of Vladimir Nabokov books at the end of the Kindle version of the Vintage International 50th Anniversary Edition of the novel, it notes that Lolita is the story of “Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze.” I once read that certain behavior can only be forbidden when...

United States on Nov 26, 2022

Mithrandir: This is the only book I have ever loved and bitterly hated at the exact same time.

Vladimir Nabokov, a Russian writer born at the close of the 19th century, undoubtedly penned one of the most beautifully written English language novels of all time. Reading Lolita is like tasting the seductive dark chocolate of Knipschildt’s La Madeline au Truffe with a Balthazar bottle of 2009 Bordeaux from Chateau Margaux while watching the sun set over the Mediterranean. Your senses are utterly overloaded. His magical turn of phrase, synesthetic detail and masterful imagery work to completely capture the heart of the reader. It is bewitching. Indeed, he plays with language like a game of chess, flirting with the intricacies and complexities, weaving patterns through our minds and forcing us to entangle our own emotions within the story. Nabokov was actually an acclaimed chess composer, and Humbert Humbert, his tortured protagonist, finds some solace in the elegant game.

First and foremost, Lolita is a work of art, a poignant celebration of language. Though there may be no obvious moral, as Nabokov himself insists in the afterword, the novel is so emotionally powerful because it...

United Kingdom on Jun 22, 2015

Marc Anderson: ... und das einzige, an dessen Ende sie "jedes Mal weint." Unbestreitbar ein Klassiker der Weltliteratur und Nabokov einer der bedeutendsten Autoren des 20. Jahrhunderts... hat das Buch ein Thema, das auch Nicht-Pädophile Männer, Möchtegern-Lolitas und Missbrauchsopfer erschüttern mag und besser als manches Ratgeberbuch die verzweifelte Obsession eines Pädophilen erlebbar macht. Ein Jeder sollte sich seinen Dämonen stellen ! Trotz lustvollem, sprachgewaltigem und detailreichem Voyeurismus (".... ihre braune Rose schmeckte nach Blut...") ist es ein zutiefst moralisches Buch, zeigt es doch das unausweichliche Scheitern des alten Mannes und die Zerstörung des geliebten Mädchens. Unverbesserlichen Möchtegern-Pädophilen (...laut Wikipedia finden 5-10% aller Männer Mädchen unter 14 besonders sexy und sogar 1 % aller Männer Mädchen unter 9.., aber nur wenige davon sind auch Täter. Hätten die meisten dieser Männer allerdings die Wahl zwischen ... Niki Minaj und einer 11.jährigen "Lolita", sähe diese Statistik wohl anders aus. Eher verlieben sich da schon Kinder in einzelne Erwachsene - besonders, wenn sie schon früh, wie Lolita von dem Autor "Quilty", also von Romanen,...

Germany on Nov 08, 2014

Paige Turner: A Leisurely Stroll Through "Lolita," the Greatest Novel Ever Written

Nabakov, in "Lolita," does not waste a single word. Even the title is a trick. He is not in love or even in lust with Lolita. He is in love with language; with words.

John Ray, Jr. (Nabakov in disguise) lays out some important facts right in the foreward of the book, warning those that picked up the book due to its scandalous reputation that they might be disappointed. In fact, Nabakov plays a great trick on all unsuspecting readers.

"True, not a single obscene term is to be found in the whole work; indeed, the robust philistine who is conditioned by modern conventions into accepting without qualms a lavish array of four-letter words in a banal novel, will be quite shocked by their absence here."

Indeed, Nabakov loves words too much, has too many games to play with them, to waste time "dropping F-bombs" and other ineffectual lazy gimmicks.

But no, it is more delicious than even that. Nabakov is behind the joke; he is the true writer of the foreward, disguised as "real." It is enchanting the way he is able to pull off this hoax with such elan:

"...had out demented diarist...

United States on Oct 15, 2012

Gogol: Having read the book like many after hearing about it for so long I have to say its one that leaves the reader with so many emotions you have to put it down, take some time to think before giving any kind of review.

If anyone has seen the remake of the film Lolita then they will find on reading the book that the film is extremely faithful to the book. What the film doesnt reflect however, is that the book is read in the form of the main character standing trial. The book in another words begins at the end so to speak. Humbert beings by telling us (Or rather the jury) Something of historical characters who have all been adults who have been in a relationship or even married to what we would consider children, in this sense he attempts to justify his actions (Though not for me anyway with much joy) He goes on to tell us about his early childhood and upbringing and how he became infatuated with "Nymphets" Which in spite of what some who seem to be sympathetic to the character of Humbert would like us believe are what Humbert himself calls prepubescent girls. In another words, the main character admits himself his own perversion.

If you know even a little of the story...

United Kingdom on Sep 21, 2010