Art does not need to be beautiful to be art. Although that may have been the prevailing definition according to aesthetic theorists throughout history of art, it is not a requirement of art. Art does not necessarily need to bring pleasure to the viewer; art can be disturbing. What makes it art is that it communicates feelings between the artist and evokes these feelings with others. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, although critiqued to be dark and twisted, should be considered a work of art. Nabokov wrote the book intentionally and with a purpose; he explored the emotions deliberately and managed to find the right words to express his work to the readers. Lolita draws the reader in not only because it was written so eloquently but also because it was captivating. Nabokov explores feelings of sympathy, love, heartbreak, in a beautifully disturbing way; he uses a dark sense of humor to mesmerize the audience and I find that being able to unfold comedy with such a taboo subject such as obsessing over young girls, which many would feel to be unfit to society, is a work of art in itself.
When I read Nabokov’s memoir and confession of the times he spent with Lolita, I can feel his emotions. I can sense the truth is his voice and I feel the compassion that he felt towards Lolita. While my morality tells me to feel disgust towards him because he is what we would consider a pedophile, I can’t fully submit myself to feeling this way simply based on what society deems to be ethical. Tolstoy would agree, that although Lolita meets some of the criteria to be considered a work of art, it lacks the capacity of expressing a universal feeling that all can agree with; there is no clear emotional link that ties the audience and artist univers...
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...ould feel towards a pedophile. His love for her, although estranged and uncommon still held tightly to those same emotions any man would feel for a woman he was completely and without question in love with. When Vladamir was able to draw compassion from me for Humbert Humbert, I felt more compelled to see his fiction novel as not so much disturbing than a beautiful tragic love story.
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Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Vintage Books. Random House Audio. New York, June 1997
Tolstoy, Leo . Art As The Communication of Feeling: From What Is Art?. Indianapolis, 1960.
The idea of enlightenment and the feeling of liberation seem unattainable most of the time. However, once you discover a gateway, such as literature or meditation, it becomes easier to reach your goals of becoming open-minded. Azar Nafisi’s “Selection from Reading Lolita in Tehran” describes the struggles she and her students face and how they use literature to escape from their atrocious life. Similarly, “Wisdom” by Robert Thurman explores the idea of reaching a nirvana-like state where people become aware of their surroundings and the nature of themselves. Nafisi and Thurman state that once people have attained the knowledge to reach an utopian, nirvana like state and have unmasked themselves from a pseudo-self mask put on for society, they must share their knowledge with others. Both Nafisi and Thurman propose that in order to act out selflessly and become an honest, true self, an individual needs bravery and courage to escape from their comfort zone and reach a state of compassion.
SALAMUCHA, AGNIESZKA. Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy, Spring2009, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p166-168, 3p
Philosophy Dept. home page. College of the Canyon. 1 Oct. 2008 http://www.coc.cc.ca.us/departments/philosophy/levin.html>. Ortiz, Sister. Dianna.
For majority of people, cruising through a fine arts museum or gallery is nothing short of browsing through a textbook and failing to grasping knowledge of the content. A casual activity and check off ones list of to-dos, sometimes done just for the appearance it offers. Of that majority, one might look at a painting for a long while before connecting the uncommunicated dots from gallery label. But for the small remaining others, a trip to an art exhibition is a journey through emotions and feelings rendered by the artists of the particular works of art. Leo Tolstoy deems this to be the appropriate response to “true art” in his What is Art?, published in 1897. Tolstoy responds to the
As revealed in Azar Nafisi's book Reading Lolita in Tehran, Iran's radical religious and political views are the driving force behind the domination and maltreatment of the country's people. Throughout the book there are many examples of this oppressive treatment which is enforced because of strict religious convictions. Nafisi compares the oppression happening during a tense period of revolution with various works of fiction that mirrors what is becoming life in Iran. The tyrannical treatment of Iranian people can be analyzed by uncovering themes found throughout Nafisi's book.
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...ernational Journal Of Applied Philosophy 21.1 (2007): 1-24. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig; G. E. M. Anscombe, P.M.S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte (eds. and trans.). Philosophical Investigations. 4th edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Humbert Humbert is a pediphile plane and simple. It has been argued that's Humberts unnatural love for what he calls “nymphets” originated from his childhood love Annabel. They sent one summer together when they were teens and he instantly fell for her. That summer ended in tragedy when Annabel died and Humbert was emotionally lost. Due to the fact that Humbert never had any closer in his relationship with Annable, his emotional maturity was eternally set at that of a teen. As he progressed through life his only sexual desires were directed towards children of smile characteristics of Annable. These were his nymphets; “between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older
Sweet, William. "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Bentham, Jeremy []. N.p., 11 Apr. 2001. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
According to literary theories and the theories of Fredrich Nietzsche, human beings have an unquenchable urge for power and will use "ethics," and everything else, in order to increase their authority. In Nabokov's Lolita, we see how Humbert controls Lolita in the beginning stages of their relationship but eventually finds himself going mad because of her deceitful ways and the control she has over his sexual desires.
Yu, Jiyuan. History of Philosophy Quarterly , Vol. 18, No. 2 (Apr., 2001) , pp. 115-138
With his 1955 novel Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov invents a narrator by the name of Humbert Humbert who is both an exquisite wordsmith and an obsessive pedophile. The novel serves as the canvas upon which Humbert Humbert will paint a story of love, lust, and death for the reader. His confession is beautiful and worthy of artistic appreciation, so the fact that it centers on the subject of pedophilia leaves the reader conflicted by the close of the novel. Humbert Humbert frequently identifies himself as an artist and with his confession he hopes “to fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets” (Nabokov, Lolita 134). Immortalizing the fleeting beauty and enchanting qualities of these preteen girls is Humbert Humbert’s artistic mission
"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Beauvoir, Simone de []. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .
In Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, the overruling drive of the narrator, Humbert Humbert, is his want to attest himself master of all, whether man or woman, his prime cravings, all-powerful destiny, or even something as broad as language. Through the novel the reader begins to see Humbert’s most extreme engagements and feelings, from his marriage to his imprisonment, not as a consequence of his sensual, raw desires but rather his mental want to triumph, to own, and to control. To Humbert, human interaction becomes, or is, very unassuming for him: his reality is that females are to be possessed, and men ought to contest for the ownership of them. They, the women, become the very definition of superiority and dominance. But it isn’t so barbaric of Humbert, for he designates his sexuality as of exceptionally polished taste, a penchant loftier than the typical man’s. His relationship with Valerie and Charlotte; his infatuation with Lolita; and his murdering of Quilty are all definite examples of his yearning for power. It is so that throughout the novel, and especially by its conclusion, the reader sees that Humbert’s desire for superiority subjugates the odd particularities of his wants and is the actual reason of his anguish.