/lit/ - Literature

>>21326453
>rather than the puzzles no one ever seems to mention, even on this forum.
This is one of the reasons why I am convinced "Lolita" is the most misunderstood book of all time. Ok, no one on /lit/ seriously commits the cardinal sin of considering it a "love story". People here know about the unreliable narrator and value the book's prose. But that's the fucking problem: you've got like 5 posts just in this thread saying it's just an exercise in excellent sentence writing. "Nobody would read it for the story" some fucker claims, you should just read it to stroke your shit to le beautiful prose. Neverming that Nabokov writes prose like an ESL that has memorised the dictionaries and grammar books (because he is one). And by God, I've even heard from people that Nabokov's narrative "lacks themes" and is just intented to be pretty writing.
At best people see Humbert's psychological profile and the freudian implications. Which shouldn't be hard when the author literally references the "Viennese doctor" in one of the final chapters. But how often do you see anyone discuss the critique of 1950s American society from Humbert's and Nabokov's European perspectives? Or the "community of pedophiles" undercurrent? These are things alluded to in the very introduction!
I think people treat the "puzzles" you mention as mere easter eggs - cheeky messages to an attentive reader. Once again, everyone is focused on style, while forgetting the other driving force behind Nabokov's writing: STRUCTURE! The novel is a whole. It references itself. The narrator is retelling past events he participated in, so he can interpose and allude to "past" and "future" events and themes at any point in the narrative. It is amazingly rewarding for an attentive reader to disentangle the story in this way, like removing pieces from the whole to observe the hidden links that keep them together.
>nabokov famously said 'you cannot read a book, you can only reread it'
He was right about that, but at the same time it is entirely possible to appreciate the depths of his books on first read. Unless you are a complete retard with short-term memory, the revelation that Quilty was the man Humbert met in the Hunter's Lodge after raping Lolita for the firts time. ought to blow your mind. Even better if you solved the riddle on your own.

>>20373207
Your writing is awful because you are trying way too hard to sound smart. Quit worrying about what others think of you and what you like; in the real world people don't call you tranny for enjoying a female author.

>pic rel is (You)

>>15987909
>I can't fathom people hating women's bodies

"That was my Lo" she said, "and these are my lilies."

What are some books about realistically starting your own self-sufficient nation?

>get money
>go to seychelles or some odd island somewhere
>purchase up significant land
>engineer to produce water, electricity, food, etc...
>earn income through tourism
>encourage people to join
>make deals with African governments to safeguard money, drugs, soldiers
>build PMC to operate from base
>rent out bunkers and fields to scientists and researchers to do studies then can't do in other nations, particularly US military to secure a good relationship
>attract bright minds who wish to stay and become citizens
>???

>>12294437
Maybe Reddit might be more up your alley, newfriend.