Title: Lolita
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Publication date: 1955
Genre: Fiction
What’s it about?
Middle-aged professor Humbert Humbert falls in love – or at least lust – with his landlady’s 12-year-old daughter, Dolores Haze, or ‘Lolita’. The two embark on a controversial relationship and a journey of discovery (both literal and metaphorical) that spans several years and ends – perhaps unsurprisingly – in confusion and heartbreak.
Where did I get hold of the book?
I was happy to discover this one in the public library. It occurred to me that I was spoiled last year, with a number of my older book choices being available for free on the internet; this year, as I get gradually closer and closer to the present day, I’ve realised that if the local libraries don’t hold the books I want, this could get expensive. So I shall be doing my bit to support my local libraries whenever I can!
- Find the book in a library near you (worldwide).
- Support local independent bookshops by buying the book from Hive (UK).
What did I learn from it?
As this was set in late 1940s/early 1950s America, I got a snapshot of what life was like there at that time. Humbert and Lolita spend a great deal of the book travelling around the United States, and there is plenty of lyrical description of the small towns and villages they pass through and spend time in. Motels, in particular, feature heavily, and this is an aspect of American life that fascinates me. We don’t have quite the same thing in the UK; I guess Travelodges are the nearest thing on this side of the pond…
The constant moving around from place to place, the overnight (or longer) stops not just in motels but also hotels, both drab and luxurious – this tells of a life on the road that, due to our much smaller geographical area, is not such a feature of British stories. Funnily enough, my next book is On the Road by Jack Kerouac, so I’ll be interested to compare the experiences of a middle-aged paedophile and his companion with those of Kerouac’s narrator (of whom at the moment I know absolutely nothing).
There is a strong explorer’s streak in me; I do not go on many holidays myself, but my mind is always wandering off around the world, and any tales of travellers cannot fail to grab my attention. The fact that I got this from Lolita was a most welcome surprise.
How did it make me see the world differently?
As I don’t have children, the need to protect them isn’t something I grapple with on a daily basis. I work from home, and I rarely go to places where there are children. It’s therefore easy to forget how small that window of childhood is, in particular that period of early puberty, when adulthood starts to beckon but is still some way off; and how much this semi-innocent state can be threatened by hostile outside forces, whether paedophiles, poverty or peer pressure.
Lolita was a sad and scary reminder of how quickly a girl can grow up, how sudden the exposure to adulthood can be, and how much damage can be caused if she is pushed too far too soon. It’s unpleasant to remember that there was a period when women were considered property and when it was normal for young girls to be married off to adult men, who would presumably use them in much the same way that Humbert uses Lolita.
It’s notable that the book suggests Lolita has already had sex with at least one boy before Humbert, although as Humbert himself is the (unreliable) narrator, this point can perhaps be disputed. Is Humbert trying to make his crimes seem less severe? How much difference is there between the boy trying it on and the man trying it on? How much has changed between 1940s America and the present day in terms of the roles we expect children (and adults) to play?
There are more questions than answers here, and it is not a palatable subject – but I guess this in itself is a reminder that sometimes we need to ask the difficult questions, to figure out why we believe what we believe, and to determine what our moral values and limits are.
What changes will I make to my life as a result of it?
A quick note. I’ve spent several blog posts talking about my quest for the perfect reading schedule, i.e. when I’m going to try to fit my Book Diaries reading into the rest of my life. While this seems at the time like a tangible target, I tend to find that my habits change so frequently that what works one week will fall apart the next.
From now on I’m therefore going to refrain from making any commitments to changing up my schedule, as chances are, by the time of the next blog post, the ‘perfect routine’ will have been thrown out of the window!
The thing that has stayed in my mind from reading this book is Humbert and Lolita’s road trips across America. This may be because my husband and I will be undertaking a road trip of our own in September: we’re flying out to Los Angeles, then driving up the west coast via Portland and Seattle, and finishing up in Vancouver, Canada. I’ve left all the booking arrangements to my husband, as he’s good at that sort of thing and I’ve been busy – but I’ve realised that, in the process, I’ve completely forgotten to get excited about this amazing trip we’re going on!
I’m therefore using this novel as a prompt to start making time to (a) plan and (b) properly look forward to our holiday. Whether that’s checking out places to visit, shopping for clothes, or yes, even figuring out when I’ll have time to do my Book Diaries reading, I’m going to make sure I enjoy the anticipation as much as I hope I will enjoy the actual vacation.
A musical interlude
I usually don’t pick ‘obvious’ tracks for my musical interludes, but this time I felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of connecting a completely innocent song with such a book as this. So I’m going for the song that was not only inspired by but also directly cites ‘that book by Nabokov’.