• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

pontalba said:
So, as you all can see shoes, shoetrees, and er, remarkable sexual habits are almost the only mentions of the dearly (?) departed. And as you will note, the fetish was not for Charlotte's shoes, it was his own. So does that mean he was a dandy, or imply something else?
Perhaps ABC is right....weirdo magnet. :eek: :D
Click to expand...
But Humbert the Horrible wasn't a weirdo! :eek:

Unless you mean dear old Mr Haze. I looked through too, and could find nothing except that Lolita had a brother who died when she was two years old! Now how did I miss that the first ten times I read Lolita? :confused:
 
steffee said:
But Humbert the Horrible wasn't a weirdo! :eek:

Unless you mean dear old Mr Haze. I looked through too, and could find nothing except that Lolita had a brother who died when she was two years old! Now how did I miss that the first ten times I read Lolita? :confused:
Click to expand...

Sometimes it seems as if portions of VN's backstories were written for the amusement of his "first reader". Non? :rolleyes:
 
steffee said:
But Humbert the Horrible wasn't a weirdo! :eek:

Unless you mean dear old Mr Haze. I looked through too, and could find nothing except that Lolita had a brother who died when she was two years old! Now how did I miss that the first ten times I read Lolita? :confused:
Click to expand...
Steffee,
It simply wan't there the first ten times you looked, is the only answer I know. And that's my story and I'm stickin with it! :)
Peder
 
Peder said:
Steffee,
It simply wan't there the first ten times you looked, is the only answer I know. And that's my story and I'm stickin with it! :)
Peder
Click to expand...
Ah, Peder, that's it. There is just no end to the man's talents!
 
steffee said:
But Humbert the Horrible wasn't a weirdo! :eek:

Unless you mean dear old Mr Haze. I looked through too, and could find nothing except that Lolita had a brother who died when she was two years old! Now how did I miss that the first ten times I read Lolita? :confused:
Click to expand...
No, poor Humbert wasn't a wierdo, he was just misunderstood. :rolleyes:

Plus, when Charlotte was going on about the son that had died, she told Humbert that she thought that the kid would be reincarnated in a child she would have by Humbert.........Is that Twilight Zone music I hear playing softly in the background...:eek: :rolleyes:

And now I really do wonder about the late Mr. Haze. Hmmmmm Dandy.....Fetish.....verra interesting..............:D
 
gotta love Anne Bancroft. :cool:

110zklz.jpg
 
I was going to wait til I'd read the entire thread before posting about Lolita, but i decided I'd probably have grandchildren before I slogged through all that:rolleyes: We don't need a second thread or for the 'oldtimers' to back off...please don't do that!
What a terrific book Mr. Nabakov has blessed up with in Lolita. While I certainly see how this litle book has caused controversy, it is such a wonderful tool to spark discussion and further understanding about how we humans sometimes misbehave. Even if we didn't talk about the issues raised in the book, we could spend another 50 pages talking about the powerful language Nabakov used to paint his story of Lolita and HH.
 
abecedarian said:
I was going to wait til I'd read the entire thread before posting about Lolita, but i decided I'd probably have grandchildren before I slogged through all that:rolleyes: We don't need a second thread or for the 'oldtimers' to back off...please don't do that!
What a terrific book Mr. Nabakov has blessed up with in Lolita. While I certainly see how this litle book has caused controversy, it is such a wonderful tool to spark discussion and further understanding about how we humans sometimes misbehave. Even if we didn't talk about the issues raised in the book, we could spend another 50 pages talking about the powerful language Nabakov used to paint his story of Lolita and HH.
Click to expand...
ABC,
It is so nice to speak with you, especially here. I am in fact having grandchildren as this thread lives on. :)
But, no, don't read the entire thread before contributing, unless of course you wish to. It is not a prerequisite. Your thoughts and comments are valuable in themselves, no matter what has gone before, and will be welcome and respected here I am very sure.
I appreciate your kind words but at the same time there does have to be a way for newcomers to Lolita to have the enjoyable discussions that the book can provoke. If they can be had comfortably within this thread that is just fine and something to be encouraged, but somehow the dampening effects of the past that we have seen referred to should not get in the way. Phrased another way, I suppose, the question is whether this thread is part of the problem or part of the solution. And maybe we need a separate thread to discuss that. j/k j/k j/k. :) But I think the answer rests with the non-members, moreso than the members, and how they wish to participate, and where. The answer to that will become clear in time I imagine. I certainly don't wish to magnify problems or create problems if there are none.
As always, your presence and comments are most welcome,
And we shall all live through it, :)
So what do you think of the little scamp? :D
peder

and PS, yes, sometimes I just stare at Nabokov's sentences in amazement to see the way he puts words down on paper to create the images and thoughts he does. He is definitely a wizard with the pen and the language.
P.
 
Peder said:
ABC,
It is so nice to speak with you, especially here. I am in fact having grandchildren as this thread lives on. :)
But, no, don't read the entire thread before contributing, unless of course you wish to. It is not a prerequisite. Your thoughts and comments are valuable in themselves, no matter what has gone before, and will be welcome and respected here I am very sure.
I appreciate your kind words but at the same time there does have to be a way for newcomers to Lolita to have the enjoyable discussions that the book can provoke. If they can be had comfortably within this thread that is just fine and something to be encouraged, but somehow the dampening effects of the past that we have seen referred to should not get in the way. Phrased another way, I suppose, the question is whether this thread is part of the problem or part of the solution. And maybe we need a separate thread to discuss that. j/k j/k j/k. :) But I think the answer rests with the non-members, moreso than the members, and how they wish to participate, and where. The answer to that will become clear in time I imagine. I certainly don't wish to magnify problems or create problems if there are none.
As always, your presence and comments are most welcome,
And we shall all live through it, :)
So what do you think of the little scamp? :D
peder

and PS, yes, sometimes I just stare at Nabokov's sentences in amazement to see the way he puts words down on paper to create the images and thoughts he does. He is definitely a wizard with the pen and the language.
P.
Click to expand...

Um..A Lolita Lite thread? :p or Lolita for the Timid?

Anyway, the 'little scamp' is just that..HH thought he was so bad for debauching this sweet little thing, and all the time she was pulling her own scam, proving she wasn't so sweet and innocent as her outward appearance might indicate. At the same time, I'd hesitate to label her as evil. I'm also open to other ideas on how to view Lo.

btw-Lo's scam doesn't get HH off the hook either..

PS=Grandkids? ok, spill!
 
abecedarian said:
Um..A Lolita Lite thread? :p or Lolita for the Timid?

Anyway, the 'little scamp' is just that..HH thought he was so bad for debauching this sweet little thing, and all the time she was pulling her own scam, proving she wasn't so sweet and innocent as her outward appearance might indicate. At the same time, I'd hesitate to label her as evil. I'm also open to other ideas on how to view Lo.

btw-Lo's scam doesn't get HH off the hook either..

PS=Grandkids? ok, spill!
Click to expand...
ABC,

You see, there's what open thinking can accomplish! Lolita Lite? or Lolita for the Timid? Start one! Go for it! I bet there's an audience right here in B&R that would contribute that has never shown their face here in the ferocious thread. :rolleyes: :cool:

Re family. My youngsters are all grown up. A son in London and his long-time S.O. are in the family way, planning on marrying. And a son in Texas has acquired a ready-made family with step children. The two girls are thinking things over. They are all over the place and email is the only way we ever communnicate.

And other ways to view Lo? Oh, we have a lot of them around here. :) Do we ever! But yours fit right in. Let's see who nibbles first.

Peder
 
Hi ABC, great to see you here.

If I may, too, I would just like to clear something up... in that other thread, you say we've had our fun, now it's their turn (and Peder-stylee, whoever "their" is, say ABC, Shade, Stewart...). Does that mean that ideally, we (we being you, Still, Pontalba, Breaca, SFG and myself (and anyone else I missed)) would be excluded from posting in it?

ABC is, as I speak, creating a new Lolita thread...
 
Lolita For the Timid..And Everyone Else

Some have suggested its time to have another Lolita thread, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling. I hope newer readers of Lolita, as well as 'oldtimers' will freely join in and share their thoughts on this marvelous book. So tell us, what do you think of our Lo?
 
steffee said:
Hi ABC, great to see you here.

If I may, too, I would just like to clear something up... in that other thread, you say we've had our fun, now it's their turn (and Peder-stylee, whoever "their" is, say ABC, Shade, Stewart...). Does that mean that ideally, we (we being you, Still, Pontalba, Breaca, SFG and myself (and anyone else I missed)) would be excluded from posting in it?

ABC is, as I speak, creating a new Lolita thread...
Click to expand...

Let me be blunt..if ya'll don't join in..I have a wooden spoon and I DO know how to use it;)
 
abecedarian said:
Let me be blunt..if y'all don't join in..I have a wooden spoon and I DO know how to use it;)
Click to expand...
ABC,
YAY and Congratulations on the new thread! And on your open door policy. In the event you need attendance I am sure we can flow a small army from here over to there, but for myself I'd like to see newer faces turn up first (he says eyeing the wooden spoon), because I think you have found a way to open the door for people who for one reason or another don't feel they can jump right in over here. And that's the name of the game. I think there's room on the block for both threads, even if Nabokov is not exactly the most fantastically overwhelmingly popular of authors on the Forum (to say the least).
So I'm rooting for ya and I think it'll go good.
Peder
 
I actually haven't read any Nabokov except for Lolita, which is why I haven't even poked my nose in the other Nabokov threads. I saw the "Open Spoilers" label and thought I should stay away in case I ever got around to reading some more of his (amazing) writing.

So thanks abecedarian for making this thread!

The thing I love most about Nabokov's writing is that every word and phrase can be unwrapped, and the reader can discover something new, or a facet that wasn't apparant on first reading it. One particular and crucial passage reads:
There would have been a fire opal dissolving within a ripple-ringed pool, a last throb, a last dab of color, stinging red, smarting pink, a sigh, a wincing child.
Click to expand...
Humbert forces the reader to do all the work here in order to realize what he is really doing - raping Lolita. None of these images are very sexual in nature if taken out of context. By forcing the reader to do the work, Humbert also attempts to indict the reader along with himself, taking a "you said it, not me" standpoint. Also notice the artistic imagery, especially "last dab of color." Humbert often takes the position that he is an artist, and hides behind "the refuge of art," using it as one of his many excuses.

See how much is packed in, and that's just one sentence! Nabokov's genius shines.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top