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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 392 KB, 600x937, lolitanabokov.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5841578 No.5841578 [Reply] [Original]

So /lit/, what's your opinions on this book?
pls respond

>> No.5841589

bump?

>> No.5841620

>>5841578
awesome at first
boring the for the last 90%

>> No.5841627

>>5841578
Boring at first
awesome for the last 90%

>> No.5841645

>>5841620
>Nabokov himself observes in the novel's afterword that a few readers were "misled. [by the opening of the book]...into assuming this was going to be a lewd book...[expecting] the rising succession of erotic scenes; when these stopped, the readers stopped, too, and felt bored."

>> No.5841671

It takes commitment to get through, but I liked it. Humbert is despicable, but I found Lo equal in that regard even before he started to ruin her.

>> No.5841698

>>5841578

gave me mad shame boners

>> No.5841709

>>5841698
I literally couldn't sleep one night, because I empathized so much with HH in the first half, and felt terribly, terribly guilty about it.

>> No.5841718

>>5841698

Also I'm not convinced Nabokov actually gives a shit about the human condition. I had a nagging sense throughout the book and reading about it afterwards that he mainly undertook writing it as a way to challenge himself as a writer.

>> No.5841729

>>5841645
>>5841709
>>5841709

that is, I think, the whole point of the book, no?

The 1st half is HH's seduction of the reader, charismatically, sympathetically and erotically.

The second half is then dedicated to shaming the reader for the monster they have condoned and even liked.

>> No.5841778

>>5841620
This. Beautiful prose though.

>> No.5841784

Is it it actually a sexy book?

>> No.5841797

>>5841784

not really. There's a scene or two where he's railing her that gave me a boner because they were relatively vivid descriptions of genitals being mashed together. a short piece of erotic fan fiction would probably have about the same effect

>> No.5841800

>>5841784
the way he describes little girls made me hard

not even the sex scenes just him sitting in a park watching all those little girls. n-no pedo

>> No.5842976

>>5841784
Didn't Nabster accidentally publish the first edition with a smut publisher or something? He thought they were reputable and they thought he wrote erotica.

>> No.5843029

>>5841718
True. Don't go to Nabokov if you want human characters. He is entirely artifice.

>> No.5843036

>>5843029
No, Nabokov is actually quite masterful in his capturing the human condition, he just subscribes to an aesthetic which facilitates horrors.

>> No.5843123

>>5841578
Good prose.
But average book overall

>> No.5843126

>>5841698
I got very proud boners anon.
You need to embrace your inner pedo!

>> No.5843131

>>5843036
what are your top five favorite books by him in terms of capturing the human condition, and what do you mean by
>an aesthetic which facilitates horrors.

>> No.5843141

The expression "the human condition" makes me want to barf. As if there was actually such a universal condition. Different humans different conditions. The dregs of humanity are hardly ever worth describing. Not in any product of art, in any case.

>> No.5843143

>>5843131
I've only read Lolita, anon, but I'm quite aware that it's a masterpiece. And I mean that he finds it all a picture, he drinks tears as if honey. So we get something which most would consider perverse so gayly decorated.

>> No.5843153

>>5843143
>And I mean that he finds it all a picture, he drinks tears as if honey. So we get something which most would consider perverse so gayly decorated.
Sorry, come again?

>> No.5843154

Bought it at a 2nd hand bookstore, read 100 pages at the beach later the same day, never opened it again. Not sure why, I didn't dislike it.

>> No.5843165

>>5843153
It's rather common, actually. "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" - Shakespeare had a touch of the same bug.

>> No.5843194

>>5843165
You should change your trip name to Non-Sequitur Guy.

>> No.5843196

>>5843194
I make perfect sense, anon. Perhaps you're just a touch of a dullard.

>> No.5843200

>>5843196
Nope, I'm smart.

>> No.5843913

>>5841698
I got shame boners because I had a huge crush on HH and would kill for someone like him in my life.

help

>> No.5843932

>>5841797
>>5841800
What are you guys on about ? I don't remember any explicit sex in this book.

>> No.5843943

>>5841784

You're an idiot if you think it's mainly about sex although there are a few sexual scenes, I'd say it's more to do with teenage, or child rebellion along with control and eventually acceptance of loss.

>> No.5843966

Since we're discussing this, anybody got a "/lit/ recommends" image focused on this subject ? It's a difficult thing to search for.

>> No.5843988

>>5841578
Great writing and language.
Average story.
2nd part is extremely boring and after a while there is nothign to look forward to.

>> No.5843997

>>5841578
I liked it on the whole
That bit towards the end made me laugh quite hard:
>I've killed him (the man who kidnapped Lo)
>about time

>> No.5844025
File: 52 KB, 1236x236, Screen Shot 2014-08-24 at 3.59.24 PM.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5844025

>>5841671
>I found a little girl despicable
aight lol
>>5843143
who the fuck drinks honey
>>5841578
the plot leaves basically everything to be desired, the characters are limp and struggle to survive nabokov's frantic and meandering prose

somehow still beautiful, though clearly not his best

>> No.5844076

>author had a foot fetish
>girl on cover isn't barefoot

I dont udnerstand...

>> No.5844083

>>5844025
I was gonna say nectar, but I'm not really sure what that is.

>> No.5844089

How would it be different if it was written by a women?

>> No.5844105

>>5841620
I liked the part with Quinty and Lolita getting married if thats the part you are talking about. The Quinty part did feel a little different from the rest of the novel I thought though. The only part I didn't enjoy that much was the guy who he thought was stalking him in those different cars.

>> No.5844110

>>5844089
HH probably wouldn't be as well written.
Just like if The Gambler wasn't written by a gambling addict.

>> No.5844111

>>5841698
during what part? it wasn't very descriptive.

>that part where she says he might have torn something in her

>> No.5844124

>>5844089
Dunno, ask Pierre Menard.

>> No.5844146

>Nabs
>frantic and meandering prose
>shitty, insipid, Joyce trip worthy of a reddit username

Ayy lmao

Ayy lmao

>> No.5844148

>>5843029
I'm actually astonished to see people saying that.
Personally I would call Nabokov one of the best in that regard. Although Lolita might be not the best example.

>> No.5844174

>>5844025
>>5844146

>> No.5844211
File: 80 KB, 534x156, Screen Shot 2014-10-12 at 10.44.47 PM.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5844211

>>5844146
>not actually reading something
>defending it anyway
>calling my name a trip
changed it 4 u ;-)

>> No.5844220

>>5844148
Yeah, >>5843029 I have no idea why you feel that way but it's pretty far off. Either Pnin or the triumverate of Kinbote/Shade/Shade's wife is an achievement in character that would make any writer jealous. Humbert's pretty full too but I suppose I can see the argument that he feels almost more like a formal exercise in character-building.

People always flip out about Nabokov's prose, which, of course, is great, but he writes prose in the service of character and story, which is really what makes his prose so good. Like Shakespeare, every word works overtime.

>> No.5844255

>>5844211
>implying I'm not a Nabokov fanboy who's read everything he wrote in the English language other than Laura and lepidoptery work
>if I was a 19 year old hipster girl I would have "the rest is rust and stardust" tattooed on my feet
>implying you even read past telemachus

>> No.5844261
File: 7 KB, 449x276, 13_vector_calculus-154.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5844261

>>5844255
so where do you have it tattooed? bicep?

>> No.5844280

>>5844261
Nope it's spelled out via synesthetic approximation in the butterfly genitalia tattooed on my chest