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Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

It was only after finsihing Reading Lolita in Tehran that I bought Lolita. It now resides in the book pile next to ym bed and will be read some time in the next month or two. I am looking forward to it.

I would also like to read Invitation to a Beheading, has any here read that and give me an idea of how good it may be?
 
Scottishduffy said:
I would also like to read Invitation to a Beheading, has any here read that and give me an idea of how good it may be?
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This discussion is on Lolita. Please start a new thread on this.
 
That does it. I just went to amazon for the annotated version.

(I believe I may have one-clicked the Jeremy Irons DVD in my zeal.)
 
I kept meaning to post in this thread, and always forgetting. First of all, I'd like to thank all of you. If I hadn't read the first page or two of this thread, I don't think I would have read Lolita. I'd tried a few times, and never been able to get through it.
Now...wow. I loved it. It's gone in my list of books I read from the library that I MUST own if and when I ever have money to spend of books again. I hated Humphrey, but felt sorry for him at the same time. I also found myself quite angry at Lolita, instead of pitying her. She just seemed like a manipulative little beast. Though I must say, the last 50 pages or so, it didn't hold my attention as easily as the previous 300 or so.
I'm currently waiting for Reading Lolita is Tehran to come to me from the library, but it seems quite popular, so it'll be a few months yet. Sigh. What's a girl to do.
 
Omigosh.

I just watched the Jeremy Irons DVD, and I have to give that version five stars at the very least. (I watched it with my daughter and my sister-in-law, neither of whom had ever even heard of Humbert Humbert (let alone Nabokov) and that was an experience all in itself...)

Should I next watch the James Mason movie version or should I read the annotated Lolita?


Hm. Hm. Hm.
 
StillILearn said:
Omigosh.

Should I next watch the James Mason movie version or should I read the annotated Lolita?
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StillILearn,
While the Irons version is still fresh in your mind, I would suggest that you watch the James Mason version next because you will notice the differences easier. But especially because Shelley Winters is not to be missed!
Or James Mason. Or Peter Sellers. Or a real Lolita. But, oh, that Shelley Winters!
The book I think will then be rather a change of pace to be enjoyed on its own terms with your own images to fill in.
Enjoy! :)
Peder
 
Well, not actually having the James Mason version readily to hand, and having received the annotated Lolita at the same time as the Jeremy Irons DVD (and added to this the fact that I was unable to to get HH and his little Lo out of my mind), my choice had already been made for me.

Why did I even ask?

I think I must have seen the James Mason/Shelley Winters version when it first came out in the sixties, and surely I must have read the book after that. I certainly had to have been too immature to fully appreciate either one at the time, so this is going to be a treat for me.

I wonder if it's within the rules to ask you in this thread which other Nabokov books you treasure? (Rather funny asking about rules in a thread about Vladimir Nabokov, isnt it?)

Oh, God, I'm going to sound just like Charlotte Haze mimicking HH for months now.

Or Valeria.
 
StillILearn said:
I wonder if it's within the rules to ask you in this thread which other Nabokov books you treasure? (Rather funny asking about rules in a thread about Vladimir Nabokov, isnt it?)

Oh, God, I'm going to sound just like Charlotte Haze mimicking HH for months now.

Or Valeria.
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Still I learn,
But you won't have her just right until you have seen Shelley Winters :D

In addition to Lolita, I have only read Pale Fire, and that just recently*. That is in a whole 'nother realm and I have heard people say it is his best. Infinitely more complex story line than Lolita, and I'm still trying to put the plot pieces together after about half a dozen readings, along with armies of other people and academics. [I figure if I say Lolita in each sentence I'm still on topic :D ]
And speaking of Nabokov and complex plots and rules, you're sure that you are the same StillILearn are you? And that I am speaking to the real one? :confused: :D

Hope you enjoy every word of Lolita.
That's what they are there for. :)
Peder

*And Oh! P.S. the biography of his wife, Vera by Stacy Shiff, which is a wonderful story of two intertwined lives.
P.
 
The image of Shelley Winters as "big Haze" is imbedded in my brain. The word blowsy is in there right along side of it. The word pathetic is there, too...

I'll always see (and hear the voice of) James Mason as HH, see Sellers as Quilty and Winters as Charlotte. To me Sue Lyons did seem a tiny bit precocious as Lolita, but I haven't watched that version for many years after all. Maybe I'll see her differently next time.
 
StillILearn said:
The image of Shelley Winters as "big Haze" is imbedded in my brain. The word blowsy is in there right along side of it. The word pathetic is there, too...

I'll always see (and hear the voice of) James Mason as HH, see Sellers as Quilty and Winters as Charlotte. To me Sue Lyons did seem a tiny bit precocious as Lolita, but I haven't watched that version for many years after all. Maybe I'll see her differently next time.
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StillILearn
I like that description -- Big Haze! She sure played a larger than life-size character in that movie!
With respect to Sue Lyons, yes, she was a little mature for a nymphet. But, on the other hand, Ms Lyons was already a little under age when filming the events of the story, as I recall, so I think there was a practical limit as to how far they could push it. :cool:
The temptation to dig out my two DVD's and look at them yet again is growing by the minute! :D To see Sellers playing Quilty up against James Mason, at the beginning of the film, is alone worth the entire price of admission in my book. A fantabulous film! And so far Stanley Kubrick has not been mentioned, so now he is with full admiration. :)
Peder
 
Peder, I agree that Kubrick's Lolita is a rare example of great-film-becomes-great-book.

As for Pale Fire, I've read it a couple of times now and in fact I become more convinced each time that there's not that much complexity to it. To see what I mean, read my comments on it here. (Sorry for linking but I don't want to quote the whole thing out of context.)
 
Shade said:
As for Pale Fire, I've read it a couple of times now and in fact I become more convinced each time that there's not that much complexity to it.
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Shade,
Thank you for your link. I look forward to reading it.
For myself, I don't know what to think. My own impression was of a relatively simple story after two readings, but then I discovered all these serious people with very complicated ideas. Nabokov's Pale Fire by Brian Boyd, for example, is an amazing book in more than one sense of that word. So now I'm waiting to see what a discussion currently raging on a different forum might turn up, if anything. The debate is certainly deeper than I can swim in.
:confused:
Peder
 
sounds like something my mother would do if she knew anything about american books. has your mother actually read it, or just heard heresay?

you can always check it out of your school library, or ask a friend to get it. just make sure your mother doesn't find it, then you'll be in a mess.

my AP Euro teacher actually suggested it to me and my friend yesterday. it can't be pornographic if she's suggesting it to a couple of 16 yr olds.
 
WoundedThorns said:
my AP Euro teacher actually suggested it to me and my friend yesterday. it can't be pornographic if she's suggesting it to a couple of 16 yr olds.
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Its not... kinda. Its more about the feelings and thoughts the main character has than the sexual act. At least that's the impression I got - I never finished the book. I'm no prude, but I still found the subject matter uncomfortable.
 
Ok, I really want to buy a copy of Lolita, but I want the one with the legs on it, with the sneakers. Does anyone own this, and if so, what's the IBSN? My local bookstore doesn't seem to have it.
 
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