Conversation surrounding Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita often entails the controversial discussion of whether Lolita, the young girl involved with the novel’s forty-year-old narrator, has some agency in the relationship, or whether Humbert Humbert forces her into the circumstances and keeps her trapped. Some argue that, because...
The trouble with an unreliable narrator often lies in choosing what to believe. In the case of Vladimir Nabokov’s incestuously illicit novel Lolita, it proves to be an intriguing predicament, as the unreliability of narrator Humbert Humbert is unquestionably severe, yet his convincing intellect persuades...
Nabokov’s Lolita is a unique book in that its narrator, under the ‘pseudonym’ of Humbert Humbert, often breaks the fourth wall to retroactively embellish his story. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” he addresses the reader on multiple occasions, the way he would if he...
Humbert Humbert, the narrator of Vladimir Nabokov’s infamous yet beautifully written Lolita, is considered by most readers to be a pedophile due to his adoration of underage girls, whom he calls “nymphets.” The eponymous nymphet, Lolita, is, of course, Humbert’s main fixation, so the majority...
“… in the destructive element immerse…”(from Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad) Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts online Get my essay Through the lens of Humbert Humbert’s obsession with la nymphette...
Vladimir Nabokov’s work Lolita is a reflection of his aesthetic literature. Nabokov is able to construct a character who can stimulate and appeal to his audience through his fluid and articulate use of language. A language that is able to mask the taboo relationship between...
5 years, the amount of time it took author Vladimir Nabokov to put words to paper and create Lolita’s obscure world, having finished the novel in 1953 publication had to wait 2 more years before seeing the light of day. Only after Graham Greene reviewed...
In Nabokov’s Lolita, an effectual force of individuality converges with a force of society into a prolific battle between what is morally justified by a community, versus what is justified by an individual, revealing the essential choice everyone must face: the isolation of individuality or...
From the witch hunting hysteria of the 17th century, to the biblical belief that all objects touched by a menstruating woman became unclean, female sexuality has been regarded by men with fear and hostility for thousands of years. Accused by Tertulian of being “the gateway...
In his mind’s eye, Humbert Humbert in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita lives in a world of eternal nymphets and time unchanging, of frozen crystals and glass. But reality is mobile and unfrozen, and try as he may to reject it H.H. is forced to recognize the...
In his “On a Book Entitled Lolita”, Vladimir Nabokov recalls that he felt the “first little throb of Lolita” run through him as he read a newspaper article about an ape who, “after months of coaxing by a scientist, produced the first drawing ever charcoaled...
In Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita, narrator Humbert Humbert exerts the power of memory as he attempts to manipulate time to suit his devices and desires. Realizing that the nymphet stage which occurs in the lives of a select number of girls endures only between the...
Tis Pity She’s a Whore, the revenge tragedy by John Ford, offers a view into the nefarious universe of Parma, where the (male) dominating characters’ lives spin around ethically corrupt, cunning and capricious connections. Although there is the seeming judgement and judgement of Annabella as...
The narrator and focal character of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, who has appointed upon himself the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, strikes the reader as one of the most despicable and unorthodox protagonists in classic literature. He embodies numerous flaws and traits that would be nearly intolerable within...
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” Just like Martin Luther King Jr. said, freedom and equality is not something that the oppressor can just give so generously.The sentence contains a subject-verb agreement error. “Freedom and equality”...
“At the time I felt I was losing contact with reality” – How far can we believe and trust the narrator in ‘Lolita’? Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts online Get...
In Lolita’s afterword, Nabokov describes two opposing views of the book, displayed by two readers. One felt that Lolita was a tale of ” ‘Old Europe debauching young America,'” while another saw it as ” ‘Young America debauching old Europe'”(p. 314). The question is, who...
In this brief essay, I will draw upon Lolita to demonstrate how Vladimir Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts online Get my essay Nabokov uses the techniques of rhetoric to create...
Azar Nafisi was born and raised in Iran, and her credentials as an Iranian woman and scholar are not in question. Her book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, is a memoir of a certain part of her life lived in Iran, but many features of it...
The protagonist and unreliable narrator, a French middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with an American 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, whom he sexually molests after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores.
Theme
The main themes of the novel include: language and communication, love, youth, innocence, justice and judgment, morality and ethics, and visions of America. Lolita is also filled with sordid subjects, including rape, murder, pedophilia, and incest.
Characters
Humbert Humbert, Dolores (Lolita) Haze, Clare Quilty, Charlotte Haze, Annabel Leigh, Valeria, Jean Farlow, John Farlow
Style
The novel is narrated by Humbert, who riddles the narrative with word play and his wry observations of American culture. The novel's flamboyant style is characterized by double entendres, multilingual puns, anagrams, and coinages such as nymphet, a word that has since had a life of its own and can be found in most dictionaries, and the lesser-used "faunlet". Most writers see Humbert as an unreliable narrator and credit Nabokov's powers as an ironist.
Popularity
The novel was adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrick in 1962, and another film by Adrian Lyne in 1997. It has also been adapted several times for the stage and has been the subject of two operas, two ballets, and an acclaimed, but commercially unsuccessful, Broadway musical. It has been included in several lists of best books, such as Time's List of the 100 Best Novels, Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century, Bokklubben World Library, Modern Library's 100 Best Novels, and The Big Read.
Quotes
“It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.”
“And the rest is rust and stardust.”
“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece”
“Words without experience are meaningless.”
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