Humbert Humbert is not a role model.
TumblrArchives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- June 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
Jessica Smith
Oh dear. No, I agree. But he is, um, sympathetic.
Perhaps the most problematic feature of _Lolita_ is how “sympathetic” HH is, because the reader’s identification with his sickness draws one too far into the sick recesses of our culture and makes it impossible for some to realize that it is a devastating psycho-social critique, not a piece of erotica/porn.
(As with others of N’s books, it’s important to never take the narrator’s account of anything at face value.)
I agree that it’s problematic, but it’s also part of what can make the book great. Great is perhaps not the right word, but HH as unreliable, sick but sympathetic narrator is part of what makes that book more than erotica. For an aware reader able to see the critique and make the leaps, the moments of identification with HH are completely devastating–the psycho-social critique turns back out onto the reader in a way that is totally brutal.
Or you could be a stupid asshole and think of it all as just erotica.