Questions, Resources, and General Banter - Lolita

[Jim]

Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, Lolita, was written in English and was first published in Paris in 1955. It was later published in New York in 1958. This account of an affair between the adult Humbert Humbert and his stepdaughter 13-yr-old Dolores “Lolita” Haze has been controversial and notorious since it first appeared in 1955 and still provokes strong responses from most readers.

Wikipedia page for Lolita:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita


Nabokov was admired and was influenced by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, Annabel Lee, which plays an important part in this novel. I would recommend reading the poem along with Lolita.

Wikipedia page for Annabel Lee:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annabel...

Project Gutenberg copy of Poe’s poems including Annabel Lee:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8893


Feel free to use this thread to ask questions and post links to resources for Vladimir Nabokov and Lolita.

Also, if you’ve written a review of the book, please post a link to share with the group.

[Jim]

To save time, here's the poem to cut and paste:


Annabel Lee - by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the side of the sea.

[Tracy]

This poem is why I disliked that darn Poe movie they put out last year: no connections to Cusack's character and EAP.

BTW: since i'm knew at reading on schedule for once, what % does page 142 correspond with, bout 33%? I'm reading on an old kindle, no pages given...sorry for stupidity. The version listed on GR says almost 400 pages total, but I'm not sure if that's with the essays?

[Jim]

Tracy wrote: "This poem is why I disliked that darn Poe movie they put out last year: no connections to Cusack's character and EAP.

BTW: since i'm knew at reading on schedule for once, what % does page 142 cor..."

My edition is 317 pages, so 142 is about 45%. For the first week, read all of Part One. Then, if you look at the schedule, you'll see week two, Part Two, section 1 - 17, and week three, Part Two, section 18 - 36. The Parts and "sections" should be numbered in your ebook, hopefully.

[Tracy]

Jim wrote: "Tracy wrote: "This poem is why I disliked that darn Poe movie they put out last year: no connections to Cusack's character and EAP.

BTW: since i'm knew at reading on schedule for once, what % doe..."

Thanks. I better get reading.

[Jim]

If you scroll down to the section titled "Obscenity allegations", you will find the name 'U.S. District Judge John M. Woolsey', which Nabokov includes in the Foreword of Lolita:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses...

[Tracy]

Right. I read this. Thanks for the reminder on the name.

[Jim]

Comments relocated from Week One discussion:


Elizabeth wrote: "Everyone: try reading "Teaching Lolita in Tehran." The author (a professor of American literature in Iran) has some amazing analyses of the novel."

Elizabeth: I think the book is called Reading Lolita in Tehran.

To the group: If you don't know the book, Lolita itself was a no-no in Tehran, and the women were sort of pioneer/rebels bucking the new conservativism controlling Iran then when women's education was being suppressed. I remember being surprised how tolerant the women in the book club in the story were of Humbert and the subject matter. It does give some pretty good intellectual insights into the story. Reading Lolita in Tehran. It's been awhile since I read it, and remember it sparked my 2nd read of the book, but I can't remember any of the prof's theories. Do you recall any of the ideas that interested you?

[Jen]

Jim wrote: "To save time, here's the poem to cut and paste:


Annabel Lee - by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name..."

Thanks for posting this, Jim. I appreciated gaining this context - and a bit of Poe is always a pleasure!

[Jim]

Jen wrote: "Jim wrote: "To save time, here's the poem to cut and paste:


Annabel Lee - by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know..."

De nada Glad you enjoyed it!

[Barbara]

Jim wrote: "Comments relocated from Week One discussion:


Elizabeth wrote: "Everyone: try reading "Teaching Lolita in Tehran." The author (a professor of American literature in Iran) has some amazing analyses..."

Elizabeth & Jim -- THANK YOU for suggesting
Reading Lolita in Tehran. Great idea which had not even occurred to me.

I'm still having a tough time enjoying Lolita, but maybe if I read Reading Lolita in Tehran it will help me to "get into" Lolita a bit more (or a LOT more) than I am at the moment.

As I mentioned in the first discussion thread on Lolita, I think Nabokov's style of writing is wonderful, but I just can't seem to get myself to love the story.

Reading Lolita in Tehran may be exactly what I need. I had looked at it a few years ago in a bookshop and thought it would be an interesting read, but then I realized that I may enjoy it more once I actually read Lolita, and then I guess I forgot about it completely. (Although I do have some friends who read Reading Lolita in Tehran and they loved it.)

[Jim]

Barbara wrote: "I'm still having a tough time enjoying Lolita, but maybe if I read Reading Lolita in Tehran it will help me to "get into" Lolita a bit more (or a LOT more) than I am at the moment..."

If Lolita isn't floating your boat, then read something else. Yes, it's a classic, but since your reading time is limited, set it aside for another day.

[Jennifer]

Barbara - don't feel bad; I didn't enjoy it much either. I finished it because I absolutely adore 'Pale Fire' and I've been meaning to read 'Lolita' for years.

I do love Nabokov's way with language and his use of puzzles and word-play but I just couldn't overcome my distaste for the subject matter. I appreciate the idea of art existing outside the boundaries of morality but I live within those boundaries and they color my perceptions. To put it simply (and vulgarly) - a jewel-encrusted turd is still a turd as far as I'm concerned.

[Jim]

For those of you who might be interested, there are some online lectures about Lolita available through Yale University. I STRONGLY recommend that you watch these lectures after you finish the novel. There are many spoilers and the lectures will make much more sense if you’ve finished your reading. There are two lectures by the professor, Amy Hungerford. There is a third lecture by one of her grad students who discusses the book in relation to literary modernism.


Lecture One – Professor Hungerford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_8to...


Lecture Two – Guest lecturer, Andrew Goldstone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPnxL...


Lecture Three – Professor Hungerford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZyIQ...


If you watch these lectures, feel free to include your thoughts about them in our Week Three discussion.



Also, here is a link to the rest of her online course:

http://oyc.yale.edu/english/engl-291#...

[Barbara]

Jennifer wrote: "Barbara - don't feel bad; I didn't enjoy it much either. I finished it because I absolutely adore 'Pale Fire' and I've been meaning to read 'Lolita' for years.

I do love Nabokov's way with langua..."

Hi Jennifer! Thanks for your message to me in this thread. However, I spoke too soon (something I tend to do a bit too often).

I finished Lolita a few days ago, and once I got past the first quarter of the book I really started enjoying it. As you said, Nabokov has a way with language, and I started falling in love with his writing, which helped me to overlook the parts of the story that I didn't like.

I'm glad you liked Pale Fire so much! We're reading it here in this group in a few weeks (late August, I believe), and I am really looking forward to it.

Thanks again for your great note!!!

[Barbara]

Jim wrote: "For those of you who might be interested, there are some online lectures about Lolita available through Yale University. I STRONGLY recommend that you watch these lectures after you finish the nove..."

Thank you for sharing these lectures, Jim. I have not had a chance to watch them yet, but I definitely will do so before we finish this week's discussion on Lolita.

[Jen]

Ditto - thanks for posting the lectures, Jim. I will definitely look forward to viewing those.

[Jim]

Jen wrote: "Ditto - thanks for posting the lectures, Jim. I will definitely look forward to viewing those."

Jen and Barbara - enjoy the lectures!

[Jim]

Interview with designer John Gall re: designing book covers for Lolita


http://www.themillions.com/2013/08/th...

[Jim]

Man, this nasty y'all:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMTSv...

[Mekki]

Jim wrote: "Man, this nasty y'all:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMTSv..."

HAHA. That's awesome!

[Jim]

Mekki wrote: "HAHA. That's awesome!"

Sparky is my favorite book critic! He puts out a new video every Tuesday. They're too funny, but he also distills the essence of the books as well as anyone.

[Tracy]

Jim wrote: "Man, this nasty y'all:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMTSv..."

!!!!!