Lolita Study Guide
The plot that is known to everybody, “Lolita” is more than just a book about perversion and child abuse. It is no Romeo and Juliette, but a touching classic about a controversial relationship of an English language professor Humbert with his neighbor’s daughter.
The name of the girl is Dolores Haze, and soon she will even become his stepdaughter. Humbert undisguised obsession with her makes him do bad things: from marrying a woman he loathes just to stay near his object of admiration to even planning a murder.
And this belongs to world literature heritage, you might say in surprise and indignation? No, the world didn’t go mad. Once the first chapter is over, a true literature taste will know exactly why Vladimir Nabokov was the genius of his time. Born in 1899 in Saint Petersburg, he gave the world a present of numerous great books, each of which has to be read slowly, reflectively and with an open mind.
Dirty, abnormal situations, vulgarity of messed up relationships, pity towards those who can’t stop doing wrong. These are the concepts most noted by ordinary readers. But there’s also art of manipulations, paranoia that seizes the man that knows he’s doing wrong, painful losses but even more painful returns and amazing language, be it English or Russian variants of original text.
Despite such a provoking content and total unity of author and his protagonist, the plot isn’t based on personal confessions. The chastity of the author, who was a faithful husband and a great father, only makes it easier to admire the book. The description of the scenes is stripped of personal evaluation and completely open to your interpretation.
“Lolita” is a book that won’t be read with enjoyment. So don’t start reading the book is you are looking for love, romance and heartbreaking feelings. But if you are into real writing, the words that let you feel in the middle of the situation, subtle references to art, literature, great metaphors, rich language, meanings hidden in between the lines – then put the book on your bucket list. Allow some time for the reading - it must be consumed with full emersion into its world.
Author: David Sutton
New Essays
Carleigh Craparo 12. 3. 12 English Lolita can be described as a controversial book that can draw the readers in and cause them to feel sympathetic towards a man who is a murderer, pedophile, predator, and an egomaniac. The author, Vladimir Nabokov, seduced the readers’ minds’ with numerous...
Vladimir Nabokov’s choice of subject in his novel Lolita shocked readers, but that was essentially why he chose it. Beetz, states that Nabokov’s first inspiration for the novel came from a newspaper story about an ape “‘who after months of coaxing by a scientist, produced the first drawing ever...
Reading Lolita in Tehran In the memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, it talks about all the extreme risks the women of Iran are taking just to be able to do simple tasks, such as reading westernized literature (The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice). It documents the experiences of women in Iran...
Lolita, the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, tells the story of Humbert Humbert, who is a perfect example of a pedophile. Dolores "Lolita" Haze becomes the sexual object of a pedophile's desires and is left unprotected with the sudden death of her mother. Although the character Humbert Humbert describes...