Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

[pontalba]

Why Shucks. Ah posts them as ah sees 'em.
/with a low and grateful curtsy/

SIL It was nice to read that in the end we came around to the same conclusions as those whose opinions are respected. Yup Peder Vera knew her man.

 

[pontalba]

Nabokov in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern

Another Goody! This slim novel is jam packed with Nabokovian Gems. While Strathern may not have every single duck in a row here, most of 'em are just fine. He briefly speaks of most of Nabokov's work, but here I will contain myself ( ) to Lolita.

We all know the opening lines to Lolita..

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, as three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

This is demonstrbly the most lyrical opening to a novel in all modern fiction. There is no mistaking the ecstasy of love. Here, if ever proof were needed, is an example of the great writer as enchanter.

I love that Strathern calls Nabokov "enchanter".

In the summer of 1960 Nabokov made a screenplay of Lolita for the director Stanley Kubrick, who would eventually turn this into a film, with James Mason adding his own, peculiarly English blend of dark sarcasm to the role of Humbert Humbert.

According to Nabokov's enlightened opinion, "A work of art cannot be obscene." Montaigne, at the outset of Enlightenment thinking, adhered to the classical maxim: "Nothing human is alien to me." Yet instead of merely casting aside our alienation, Nabokov's Humbert surreptitiously encourages us to revel in his humanity, or at least his form of it. Reading Lolita is a highly enjoyable experiece, even as it is an aesthetic one. Our wonderment at the sheer literary skill, and what it describes, are one and inseparable--which is far from the case with commonplace gymnastic pornography. It is worth bearing all this in mind as one wanders in delight down the primrose path of Nabokov's pedophiliac prose.

 

[pontalba]

BTW guys, I mistakenly referred to Nabokov in 90 Minutes as a 'novel'...the marbles were rattling around too much, and I couldn't hear what I was typing....its a biography folks!

 

[Peder]

Pontalba,
I've been reading Strathern's Nabokov in 90 Minutes too, and I also am really impressed at how well he does covering such a broad topic in such a compessed form (Except for Ada which I'll disagree with elsewhere). He has a good eye for the highlights and the important points to make, and your posts are excellent examples of that. "..the most lyrical opening to a novel in all modern fiction.."? I like that! And "....gymnastic pornography..." is also a wonderful choice of words!! All three examples right on target.
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Peder
I'll be glad to see your views on Strathern's comments regarding Ada. Having not read Ada yet, his comments were not what I would have expected as compared to his analysis of the rest of Nabokov's work.

 

[StillILearn]

Mercy, y'all! I just now got started on Sebastian Knight -- which I'm enjoying very much, btw -- and now Nabokov in 90 is sounding pretty tempting.

More book shelves, anyone?

 

[pontalba]

Hey there SIL!
90 Minutes a quick read, only 117 pages not counting the index, and Well Worth It.

I am so very glad that you are enjoying Sebastian!
I'll be quiet now...so you can read!

I still have a little room on top of the shelves.......

 

[Peder]

Peder
I'll be glad to see your views on Strathern's comments regarding Ada. Having not read Ada yet, his comments were not what I would have expected as compared to his analysis of the rest of Nabokov's work.

Pontalba,
Separate post on Ada coming over on "Everything Nabokov," but first a mind-boggling post about his childhood over there.
And before that, coffee, at least,
Peder

 

[StillILearn]

I think somebody should take you two's coffee away from you for a coupla days so's the rest of us can have at least a small chance of catching up with you. We slowpokes can hardly see to read the books we've got, what with all the dust you're leaving us in.

 

[pontalba]

I think somebody should take you two's coffee away from you for a coupla days so's the rest of us can have at least a small chance of catching up with you. We slowpokes can hardly see to read the books we've got, what with all the dust you're leaving us in.

Oh No! Anything but the coffee!!!

I'll put up with a lot, but don't mess with my coffee!
Slowpokes...I don't see no slowpokes 'round here!

 

[StillILearn]

The whir of pages turning around this place sounds like bumblebees in a daisy patch.

 

[Peder]

I think somebody should take you two's coffee away from you for a coupla days so's the rest of us can have at least a small chance of catching up with you. We slowpokes can hardly see to read the books we've got, what with all the dust you're leaving us in.

Aw, Still,
Din't mean to make ya feel nervous. My post won't be on Ada, but on Strathern on Ada. Sort of Nabokovian, that, eh? But we won't leave you behind. Where would be the fun in that? You are glued to us forever!
And not the coffee! Anything but the coffee! I'll be good.
Peder

 

[StillILearn]

I don't s'pose we could talk you two into rereading Lolita about four or five times while we try to catch up?

 

[Peder]

The whir of pages turning around this place sounds like bumblebees in a daisy patch.

Or it could be just the buzzin of the bees in the sycamore trees on the big rock candy mountain.

 

[pontalba]

Or it could be just the buzzin of the bees in the sycamore trees on the big rock candy mountain.

Where the jails are made of tin,
And you can walk right out again jes as soon as you walk in...

 

[pontalba]

I don't s'pose we could talk you two into rereading Lolita about four or five times while we try to catch up?

Hey! As we speak (type ) I have the CD in the computer drive.

 

[StillILearn]

Where the jails are made of tin,
And you can walk right out again jes as soon as you walk in...

They're singing duets now, folks. I think we definitely need to take the caffeine away from them.

Okay, put down the coffee cup and nobody will get hurt.:

 

[Peder]

Still,
Luv it, luv it!
Not every thread has singing duets.
The thread that sings together stays together.
Peder

 

[pontalba]

SIL
Now why do you want to torture Peder and poor lil ole me? Trying to take our coffee away indeed! You know its impossible to function without caffeine and (for me at least) chicory. Good God woman....go get some coffee!

Howze about some three part harmony?
Wait a minute...wheres Steffee, she wants to sing too!

 

[pontalba]

Lolita....Richard Corliss BFI Film Classics

James Mason was the first choice to play Humbert Humbert, but.....well I'll let Corliss tell you..p.32

Mason had been the first choice to play Hum, according to Harris, but he was determined to do a play on Broadway. Then the film-makers approached Olivier; he said yes, but his agency (whose clients included Kubrick and Harris), dissuaded him. They asked David Niven; Niven said yes, but his agency talked him out of it. Evidently the cinematocracy was suspicious of these two kids who wanted to film Lolita. 'They knew,' recalls Harris, 'that we weren't going to make Tammy. In the end, Mason agreed to be Humbert

Yay! and Phew!

But beneath the matter of his roles was the manner of his performing: the good manners of breeding, understatement, sufferance. And the famous voice: the plummy diction that could make the most egregious proposition seem like a royal summons. These were the qualities Kubrick wanted in his screen Humbert. ...................'Sue Lyon he directed very carefully, but James had got all worked out already.' Both men knew that Mason had Humbert's soul in his piercing, hooded eyes. They could express agony at a glance.

Oh Yeaaahhhh!