Lolita

Lolita is novel written in English by Vladimir Nabokov and was published in three different countries, London in 1959, New York in 1958 and Paris in 1955. Vladimir latter translated the novel into Russian. The novel had been banned by the French government before the ban was quashed later on but unorthodox press in Paris issued its first after several rejections by several American publishers. The scandalous history and the subject of the novel in which a pervert middle aged man is having an affair with a twelve year old brings up the expectation of pornography but in the novel reality there is no any word of obscene. Although the novel had to wait until its publication for it to claim a classic status as the most controversial and well known example of literature in the 20th century, but still Lolita has made it to the minds and tongues of its readers. Today Lolita is heard in the pop describing a girl who is sexually precocious and also it has been adapted for films and stage acting on several occasions.

Plot summary

Humbert, a European of mixed stock as he introduces himself at the age of twelve lost his love Angel Leigh and has forever remained in love with nymphets. Sketch of his tortured career follows up until when he is in his late thirties where he settles in New England with a seductive nymphet in the same building. Dolores Haze and this ‘Lolita’ is the landlady’s daughter whom he marries with intentions of being closer to the nymphet. The landlady is involved a fatal accident making Humbert the guardian, during the first night together Humbert plays the role of seducer. The novel is climaxed by the affair taking the pair to a frenzied motel before Lolita escaping with a playwright with Humbert the nympholept eventual revenge on his rival.

What one to make of Lolita

With most critics interpreting the novel as the problem dreamed by the literature teachers, Mr. Nabokov dismissed that claim and asserted that the novel is simply a story which he had to reveal off his chest. His entire claim can be evident with his style which is wild, wonderful, fantastic and imaginative. Lolita is just an assertion of the strength of the comic literature to wrest truth from the unexpected materials or object. Lolita is a funny, serious novel that brings the hypocritical ways that pervades the comedy around the human.