CHAD NABOKOV'S Lolita

[Anonymous No.11931051]

What is /lit/'s consensus on NABOKOV'S Lolita? Can we have a thread about it?

[Anonymous No.11931055]

>>11931051
whoops wrong pic

[Anonymous No.11931059]

Did Humbert Humbert kill Quilty or not?

[Anonymous No.11931064]

Pale Fire is better.

[Anonymous No.11931077]

>>11931064
elaborate

[Anonymous No.11931219]

>>11931051
I've been reading his autobiography (Speak, Memory), what was so chadian about Nabokov, OP?

[Anonymous No.11931242]

>>11931219
What was Virgin about him? You seem to know better.

[Anonymous No.11931296]

>>11931242
is that the dichotomy, are chads merely non-virgins? I don't know much about his sexual life, and I doubt Speak, Memory is going to provide much help in that regard, all I know is his deep love for Vera and his general hilarious aloofness. You can't get much more confident -arrogant- than good old Nabokov, which again, is terribly endearing.
If being a chad is about confidence, then give the man a crown.
Other than this, from the few threads that have popped up here and there lately, /lit/ seems rather appreciative of Lolita, but then again lit is never consistent.

I adored it, Humbert Humbert as relatable monster is its greatest feat in my opinion. Reading about him rationalizing his dismal moral stances, over-intellectualizing everything, every single step of the way hit distressingly too close to home.

[Anonymous No.11931309]

>>11931064
nononononononoonononono

[Anonymous No.11931425]

Can someone explain the big fucking deal about Lolita to me? I just don't get it. I don't get anything other than babby's first literary fiction that 19 year olds read along with Slaughterhouse 5 and think they're well read hot shit.

I got approximately nothing out of Lolita. What is the "So What?" that is answered? What is gathered? What changes? I was left wondering.

Beyond those things the dry, meandering plot *wasn't even entertaining.* If it's going to be pointless and not engage the bigger things it should at least be merely entertaining (although fiction should always strive to be entertaining).

>duuuuude the prose

Fucking what about it? It's literally Nabokov making fun of academics while letting the horrid, non-empathetic (and honestly just boring as fuck--seriously, Humbert was just not fucking interesting) protagonist obfuscate and try to dupe you. These faggots act like muh Lo. Lee.Ta is on par with the Crispin's fucking Day speech or some shit, when even that famous part is just the same gold plated, filigreed joke-prose of the rest of it.

The sine qua non of the whole thing seems to be merely le edgelord pedo story. Seriously found Lolita dry and pointless as fuck, with overrated prose that was actually just Nabokov trolling.

Actually interested to hear what people got out of it.

[Anonymous No.11931435]

>>11931425
If it's not for you, it's not for you. Period.

[Anonymous No.11931457]

>>11931425
>I got approximately nothing out of Lolita.
You weren't supposed to get anything out of it.
art for art's sake

[Anonymous No.11931601]

>>11931051

[Anonymous No.11931625]

>>11931425
Is this a copypasta trolling people or just the same guy as last thread desperately wanting to have his query answered?

[Anonymous No.11931644]

>>11931425
mein n word

[Anonymous No.11931681]

>>11931059
No

[Anonymous No.11931754]

>>11931425
I liked how absolutely everyone in the book was a terrible person.

[Anonymous No.11932096]

>>11931754
>everyone in the book was a terrible person
everyone is this book is shown through Humbert's eyes and he kinda hates everyone

[Anonymous No.11932142]

>>11931754
Weirdly enough I think the only person in the book who doesn't get absolutely demolished by HH's commentary is the guy who gets Lolita pregnant.
Though it's been a while since I read it.

[Anonymous No.11932166]

>>11932142
Lolita's schoolfriend who moves away to Europe gets off pretty lightly.
As does Rita but then Humbert doesn't really seem to respect her much, despite his kindness.

[Anonymous No.11932431]

>>11931681
then why is he in jail

[Anonymous No.11932439]

>>11931425
The prose is literally unbelievable m8. As far as the themes of the book go i dont really give a shit, muh love, muh child abuse, muh unreliable narrator, who cares. It's written fucking beautifully though

[Anonymous No.11932489]

>>11931051
UNPOPULAR OPINION TIME:

I know I am in the minority in not seeing the brilliance of this novel. It was far too repulsive a subject matter and far too intimately related to allow me to admire it. I could not divorce myself from the horror this twelve year old was being subjected to, I could not separate the act from the actor. HH’s protestations of love fell on deaf ears with me. I focused completely on “and her sobs in the night--every night, every night--the moment I feigned sleep.” My god, at one point he reflects on the possibility of marrying Lolita when she is outgrown his sordid attraction and making her produce Lolita II, who will be a nymphet with his own blood and truly belong to him. He is depraved beyond depravity.

I will admit to feeling less sickened once “Dolly” was outside his grasp. Reading of his despair and supposed anguish did not bother me. I found the end anti-climatic. His condemnation of men who were his mirror reflection, his obvious mental fragility, his inability to acknowledge the pain he inflicted or care about anyone other than himself produced no effect on me.

I saw so many 5-star ratings and read some remarkable reviews, which made me want to read this novel while I was carrying it on the TBR, but in the end, it simply exercised no appeal for me. I expected some wonderful quality that would reveal itself to me in time...but never did.

Every book is not for every person. This one made me want to scrub my skin and gargle with Listerine. I have never wished to explore the mind of a pedophile, and now that I have done so, I am glad to say I still do not understand such a perversion. How dead at heart would you need to be to say, “I had just retracted some silly promise she had forced me to make in a moment of blind impatient passion, and there she was sprawling and sobbing, and pinching my caressing hand, and I was laughing happily…”

Could Nabokov write? Absolutely! Would I read him again? Never! Despite knowing, as most people do, that Lolita was a story about an under-aged temptress and her adult admirer, I was unprepared for its true content. I hope it doesn’t color my ability to look at a young girl in the company of an older man without recalling Lolita to mind.

A disgusting book, about a disgusting matter and a disgusting man. I wouldn't let my kids near Nabokov.

[Anonymous No.11932514]

>>11932489
I mean people frequently write books where torture and warfare figure prominently but you draw the line at pedophilia?

[Anonymous No.11932586]

>>11931064
no

[Anonymous No.11932757]

>>11932489
American puritans, its fine if there's ultra violence, horrible torture and suffering but the second something is sex it's like they witnessed America being nuked.

[Anonymous No.11932817]

>>11932757
not like the book is about a pedophjile fawning over a little girl

[Anonymous No.11932860]

>>11932757
I think if there were a well-written book entirely about a torturer's and his victims' lives and troubles, we might see the same kind of review actually, although the reaction might be milder, and that wouldn't be an American thing, pedophilia is held as supremely repulsive here in Europe too imo.

[Anonymous No.11933581]

>>11932431
Ran a red light.

[Anonymous No.11933663]

it's the nabokov novel i like least

[Anonymous No.11933671]

>>11933663
Which ones do you prefer?

[Anonymous No.11933680]

>>11931425
Its just a really fun book to read

[Anonymous No.11933688]

>>11933671
the ones not about a childfucker

[Anonymous No.11933861]

>>11931425
>If it's going to be pointless and not engage the bigger things
What bigger things? Be specific. I think you just have shit taste in art and want something "epic".

[Anonymous No.11933876]

>>11932489
Is this from goodreads?

[Anonymous No.11933953]

>>11932489
i like nabokov's other work but i mostly agree with this. humbert humbert was not an interesting character and the narrative was not one in which i could enjoy the finery of nabokov's prose or the cleverness of his formal trickery. the whole thing was stifling and nauseating. any time he began to describe rich foods and sweets and baby talk about his sexual desires i wanted to puke.

and even though i still love some of his other work reading Lolita has actually made me enjoy nabokov's work less on the whole for those unfortunate moments when i am reminded of lolita or when, like in Ada, i begin to suspect the man really is a dirty pedophile.

[Anonymous No.11934213]

>>11933953
Keep your shit opinions to yourself.

[Anonymous No.11935747]

>>11933953
I'm sure Nabokov would be delighted to have elicited such revulsion out of you.
Still can't understand why people can't seem to see beyond the pedophilia and read into how human Humbert is, warts and all. Not interesting? How?

[Anonymous No.11936856]

Lolita isn't a fun book to read but it is a worthwhile one. At several points in Part 2's endless road trip I skipped ahead multiple pages waiting for something to actually happen.

>>11931059
Unlikely. Their brawl is the definition of farcical.