Lolita
“Light of my life, fire of my loins”—I wondered why the first lines of Lolita spoke to me in a sultry singing voice as I read them. Then it hit me…Lana Del Rey’s “Off to the Races”. Go read the lyrics and it’ll feel like you’ve read a cheapened summary of the book with an altered, more consensual ending.
While Lana certainly lets us know she gets with older, grungy guys (watch the “Ride” music video, good lawd), she doesn’t express interest in the atypical age gap of this novel. Humbert Humbert (yes, you read that correctly), the 36-year-old narrator of Lolita, tells the story of how he falls into a deep, desperate, and dangerous love affair with a "little nymph", Dolores Haze (aka Lolita, aka Lo). By his own definition, a nymphet is a sexually bewitching creature between the ages of 9 and 15. According to H.H., nymphetness is accompanied by a slight daemonic quality because of the perilous magic she possesses. When he sees his “Lolita nymph” for the first time, he believes that his undying love for her-- however complex it might be—is the pinnacle of joy.
So how did Nabokov pull off this love story without coming across as disgustingly creepy? He doesn't. Humbert Humber is creepy. Never once did I forget Lolita’s age and fragility. In my opinion, Nabokov wasn’t trying to make readers sympathetic to H.H…he just wanted us to recognize he was human. He's a human with piggish opinions of women, for sure, but those people do exist.
Fun fact about Nabokov: he was also a lepidopterist (jot that down for your next trivia event). After he published Lolita in 1955, the butterfly professional expressed frustration that critics “pronounce[d] Lolita meaningless because it did not teach them anything” (Nabokov, 314). He was basically like: guys this is good stuff! Why does there always have to be some deep underlying moral implication? What about the fact that this is art? You experience aesthetic bliss when you read it. Can’t you just enjoy my book without reading between the lines to pinpoint my position on pedophilia? PS I'm not a pedophile I prommmmise.
Content aside, Nabokov is a poetic writer skilled at wordplay. You don't have to like the main character to appreciate the writing. Nabokov perfectly depicts a manipulative, obsessed, self-deceived, hysterically-in-love man. The guy is gross, but Nabokov nails the grossness. Humbert Humbert's infatuation with Lo, both erotically and emotionally, shaped his entire life, and the end of the novel was sincere and heart-breaking.
I hope that this novel’s peculiar plot doesn’t make you so uncomfortable that you miss out on Nabokov’s magical prose. I give Lolita 5 out of 5 flames.
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