My first read for the summer was Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I've had this novel as a part of my collection for a little while now, and with the start of my summer vacation I finally got the chance to read it. Lolita is known as a classic in literature, with the name Lolita heavily associated with the sexualized young girl in love with the handsome older gentleman who loves her back. However, after finishing Lolita, I have come to the conclusion that pop culture has gotten the story all wrong and we need to really understand what Lolita is about before referencing her name so lightly.
"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins."
The novels most infamous first line. Nabokov writes his novel from the perspective of the main character, Humbert Humbert. Humbert is, frankly, a pedophile. He acknowledges his immoral urges towards 'nymphets' but it does not stop him from lusting after Dolores Haze, who is referred to throughout the novel as Lolita. The reader comes to understand the novel as a memoir of Huberts life with Lolita, and how his attraction to nymphets began.
In Europe when Humbert was thirteen years old, he was in love with a girl close to his age; however, she died before the relationship could further develop. Humbert never had a hard time attracting the opposite sex, yet he was never truly attracted to any of the women because they could not compare to his adolescent love. As an adult, Humbert realized he was attracted to young girls, but tried to suppress these urges by marrying adult women, but the marriages always failed. Eventually, Humbert moved to the United States, where he comes across Charlotte Haze and her twelve year old daughter Dolores Haze. Humbert realizes he loves Dolores as much as he loves his childhood crush. Because Charlotte is obsessed with European ways, she allows Humbert to rent out a room in her home, which eventually leads to Humbert beginning to obsess over Dolores. Humbert calls Dolores 'Lolita' and would try his hardest to spend time with her and subtly flirt with her. Humbert only confides in his diary of his pedophile urgencies towards Lolita. When Lolita is sent to summer camp, Charlotte admits to being in love with Humbert, and they marry so Humbert could be close to Lolita. As time passes and Lolita is still away at summer camp, Charlotte finds Humbert's diary and while she is accusing Humbert of his pedophilia, Charlotte runs out into the street where she gets hit by a car and dies. Lolita is motherless and now in the care of her new stepfather Humbert. The pair go on a road trip, and for a majority of the trip Lolita is unaware of her mothers death. Eventually, Lolita confides in Humbert she is sexually experienced, which results in Humbert becoming intimate with Lolita. The next day, Lolita claims Humbert raped her and demands to talk to her mother, which is when Humbert finally tells Lolita that Charlotte is dead. Lolita and Humbert now pose as father and daughter and Humbert enrolls Lolita in school. Humbert tries to do everything Lolita wants, but Lolitas adolescent urges towards boys begins to cause a rift in her relationship with Humbert, causing Humbert to take her on another road trip. However, this road trip is not as pleasant as the first road trip they go on together. Humbert is paranoid of being followed by a man he calls Trapp, and Lolita is constantly throwing tantrums against Humbert. One day, Lolita falls ill and Humbert takes her to the hospital. Lolita recovers, and on the day Humbert was to pick her up and continue on their road trip venture, Lolita was gone and the nurses claim Lolita's uncle picked her up. For two years Humbert searches for Lolita, until finally he receives a letter in the mail from her. Lolita is now seventeen years old, married, pregnant, and poor. Humbert believes the man Lolita married is her kidnapper, and decides to find the couple and kill the man. When Humbert sees Lolita, he demands her to tell him who took her and if the man she married is Lolitas kidnapper. Lolita finally confesses the man who took her was Clare Quilty, a man similar to Humbert in both looks and sexual desires towards nymphets. Humbert does not kill Lolitas husband and gives her four thousand dollars and begs her to leave with him; however, Lolita denies Humbert and he leaves. Humbert finds Quilty and demands he explain why he took Lolita. Quilty claims he saved Lolita from Humbert (but he tried to make Lolita participate in child pornography). Eventually, Lolita ran away and Quilty did not try to find her again. Humbert shoots and kills Quilty, and eventually Humbert gets caught and goes to a psychiatric hospital where he writes his memoir dedicated to Lolita. The novel ends with the reader being informed of Lolita's death during child birth, and Humbert's death shortly after from a heart attack.
Overall, I think Lolita is a good read. The story is told from the unreliable, mentally ill narrator Humbert Humbert. Writing from the perspective of a mentally ill individual is hard to do well, and I believe Nabokov really pulled it off. As for the plot of the story, it's a lot. Often times I caught myself thinking, "I am literally reading a book about a pedophile" and it was really overwhelming. Nabokov does a great job of having the reader feel for Humbert. Clearly, he is so deeply in love with Lolita. However, Nabokov constantly keeps the reader in check by referencing Lolita's age throughout the novel and explaining her childish actions and appearance. It is almost as though Nabokov is trying to enter the mind of a pedophile to better understand their tendencies, rather than justify immoral actions. What is interesting about Lolita is Humbert's telling of the story. In the novel we learn Humbert is a literary genius, so he is persuasive in his telling about his interactions with Lolita. Humbert is also a very unreliable narrator, he is constantly trying to reason with the reader and even goes as far as to claim Lolita seduces him. Clearly, Humbert is the adult and the person with pedophiliac tendencies and Lolita is a minor with little sexual knowledge, there is no question on who seduced who. While I think Lolita is a well written novel and I am glad a read it to say I did, I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone. I believe if you're a person who wants to read classic works of literature, then read the novel with fair warning. But I do not think Lolita is a must read for everyone. However, I do believe everyone needs to better understand our association with the name "Lolita" should have a more serious connotation, rather than the idea of a sexualized, seducing young girl.
I think it is fair to say everyone has heard the name Lolita and thought of a song, a book reference, and possibly even make up. Lolita is everywhere in pop culture, and as of right now it is associated with the rebellious, sexy girl who lusts after older men. Clearly, Lolita's reality is that of a molested twelve year old who never lusted after an older man, but an older man lusted after a young girl. However, many people are unaware of this reality. Singer Lana Del Rey practically dedicates her debut album "Born to Die" to the novel Lolita and in many of the songs featured on the album quote directly from the novel itself. Tattoo artist and make up entrepreneur Kat Von D named a terra-cotta shade lipstick Lolita. When young girls and women see influential individuals who are attractive and successful reference Lolita, they automatically associate the name with the idea of Feminine sexuality. However, this persona is the wrong idea to associate Lolita with. Before reading Lolita, I was also naive and thought the name Lolita to have a somewhat positive connection to it. According to the article "Lolita: Form Transgressive Lit to Pop Iconography (or how we ended up with Lana Del Rey)" from the website "Lit Hub", author Rebecca Brill explains the evolution of Lolita, starting with the novels publication in 1958 to Lana Del Rey's album 'Born to Die' released in 2012 which is heavily influenced by the novel. One of the most interesting aspects of the article discusses how Lolita went from something very controversial to developing iconic symbols in our culture. For example, the heart shaped sunglasses which are associated with the sexuality of young girls is due to the movie poster from the first Lolita movie. However, in the novel there is no time where Lolita is said to be wearing heart shaped sunglasses, but the movie poster makes it seem like a defining character trait of Lolita which adds to her seduction. Eventually, Lolita became a source of phycological interest, coining the term 'Lolita complex'. The Lolita Complex is a book written by Russel Trainer in which he explores the idea of mens attraction to young girls. While Trainer is not a certified professional with no real authority to be coining any psychological findings, the Lolita Complex is often referred to today to combine adolescence with the erotic. Essentially, Lolita has been interpreted incorrectly the past few decades, and a part of reading Lolita helps us understand what the name really means and we should stop saying it/ referring to it so lightly.
Overall, Lolita was a great novel to start my summer off with. If you have been dying to read it, I hope this post gave you some good information to consider before starting it. Happy reading!
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