Name: Joy Chow
Major Works Data Sheet: Lolita
Title of the Work: Lolita
Author: Ladimar Nabokov
Date of Publication: 1997 (1955)
Genre: Novel
Historical information about the Setting:
There are numerous settings in the novel, varying from cities in France to towns in America. During the 1940s and 1950s time period, everyone, particularly Europe and America, was in a period of unorganization, chaos, and uncertainty because of WWII. Europe, specifically, was in a limbo after the war and all its destruction. America, however, was a different story because it wasn’t as close to the central source of turmoil and trouble. There was an entire ocean separating America from Europe, so the detrimental aftereffects of the war weren’t as noticeable in the U.S. as they were in places such as France. These cultural and geographical differences are clearly noted through the novel as the two settings definitively contrast one another, presenting a more separated view of cosmopolitan customs.
Narrative techniques:
Journalistic Style: Lolita is narrated in primarily a journalistic style. Humbert makes it clear that he is narrating to a specific audience. His accounts seem to be presented as journal entries. Structurally speaking, Humbert’s memories are also recounted in a very irregular pattern. For instance, the chapters in the novel are always very sudden and short, ending in abrupt parts.
Risky Theme: The topic of Lolita remains one of the most disputable novels in Literature. Though the sexual scenes are not very explicit, the implications of the content can be very disturbing. Especially since the readers are practically lured into Humbert’s eloquently-worded account that all of his actions were justified by his genuine love for Lolita...
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...ing all around you.” (37) Instead of discussing character or behavior, Humbert always gravitates towards describing the physical qualities of women in the novel. Reflecting a societal custom, Nabakov reduces womens’ roles in the eyes of men. The girl characters in the novel become fantasies and almost commodities.
Language: Though the subject of the novel is risky, Nabokov skillfully uses very eloquent language to add sophistication to the plot. Even though the content is disturbing, the linguistic usage of words transforms the dark matter into almost an enchanting story. Through his novel, Nabokov demonstrates how powerful language can be. In the novel, the way Humbert phrases his thoughts distracts, changes, enchants, and confuses readers. We almost fall into the trap and believe in Humbert’s side because of his stunning ability to utilize puns and allusions.
Brooke L. Blower, Becoming Americans in Paris: Transatlantic Politics and Culture between the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
With a shock of dyed red hair, statement glasses, and colourful sweaters, Lorna Jean Crozier dresses as eccentric as she writes. Although she never considered writing as a career when she was young, at 68 she has authored 15 books. Crozier has lived everywhere from Victoria to Toronto, but to me, her poetry shows that her heart has never left the Saskatchewan Prairies where she was born. Her works often showcase her interests, including cats, gardening, and sex--sometimes rolled together.
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray women are often portrayed as passive and weak characters. During the 19th century when these books were written, the proper domestic ideology was that women were naturally squeamish, defenseless, innocent beings, who needed protection from the male worlds of business and politics (Stepenoff). This theme is demonstrated throughout both of these novels through major and minor characters. In the case of Frankenstein, Shelley, who is a feminist herself, covers her book with submissive women who suffer calmly and eventually die. Similarly in Wilde's story, there are a few female characters that do not show much immediate importance, but they ultimately have a major impact on the story. Both authors portray their female characters as weak and passive, yet, despite their minor roles, these women strongly influence the men and greatly alter the course of events in each novel.
Humbert's main strength is his sense of humor. Nabokov is sure to throw Humbert's way all the American kitsch he can handle - mostly in the form of Charlotte Haze. His sly insults sail over her head, but Humbert wins our approval by making sure we understand them. Similarly, we admire him be...
...sely acquainted with Dolores Haze by the end of the novel, despite the lengthy descriptions offered about her. Humbert never offers the reader a true portrayal of Dolly as a person with life and feelings, but only a distorted physical portrait of the nymphet, Lolita. Aside from the controversial pedophilia issue, Lolita still remains a lust story. Nothing proves this point more effectively than Humbert’s own statement: “You see, I loved her. It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight” (Nabokov 270).
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
...Piercy badgers the reader with Comstock's view of women (mostly in the descriptions of his dutiful wife and obedient daughter) to illustrate his sexism, however, the belabored point begins to fall flat and instead leaves the character feeling one-dimensional. Likewise, even men initially introduced to the reader as pro-feminist, like Theodore Tilton, meet with a predictable sexist ending. These men were no doubt chosen to embody the patriarchal society of then and today, but the unyielding portrayal began to feel overwhelmingly oppressive (perhaps her intent) and a novel so based in realism, on that point, began to feel contrived, therefore unrealistic. Nevertheless, Piercy compares and contrasts the experiences of the characters', offering them up to the reader, perhaps in hope that similarities can be identified and a feminist dialogue can be started or continued.
What world are you living in? Over the past hundreds of years psychologists have been studying the functions of the human mind. It is a task that seems to prolong as information and new methods arrive. What makes us dream or imagine things? The fact that we have dreams and ambitions in life strives us to believe through imagining and dreaming that we will eventually get a break in life. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, is a novel that characterizes these types of situations. It implies similarity in plot and theme between Lolita and certain fairy tales. Furthermore, Nabokov implies the folk characterization in Lolita to show the paradoxical relationship of art and reality thus showing how real life people live out the lives of fictional fairy tales. It is also evident that because of the folkloristic material portrayed in Lolita, it is seen that man lives between two worlds, the imagined one and the true one. The image of Lolita had such effect on society in the way that pre pubescent children wanted to be like her, they wanted to be as pretty as her and wear those heart shaped sunglasses like her thus living in a world of fantasy. Even today's society still has, more then ever that Lolita syndrome thus causing a lot of pre pubescent kids to live in a fantasy world instead of the real one.
The story of Lolita was written in the United States during the 1950’s. Authors in the fifties were considered the Beat Generation and the movements were sexual liberation and disregard for traditional values in writing. Narratives seemed more liberated and open like Lolita because it is far from conservative and
The interpretation of Lolita still consisted on the ideas of sex and the book as well as the character became a scandal. Nabokov has rebuffed sex themes since the beginning of the book’s publishing. In his famous interview with Playboy, Nabokov rejects the interviewer bringing up America’s sexual mores with “Sex as an institution, sex as a general notion, sex as a problem, sex as a platitude—all this is something I find too tedious for words. Let us skip sex.” (Toffler). His refusal to even talk sex proved how little his tolerance was when it came to humoring the audience about sex themes and sex related questions. In an interview with CBC during the early 1960s, Nabokov is quoted agreeing with an interviewer that believes “sex has become such a cliche, so that people can’t recognize anything else.” (...) which further shows how 1960’s mentalities could see nothing else outside of the realm of sex. In the same CBC interview, Nabokov disputes sex themes more openly and admits that his writing of the book has more to do with Humbert’s artistic nature and how that alienates him and creates unattainable love (...). While Nabokov wrongly uses a young girl’s abuse as a tool of illustrating a man’s “misfortunes” of being an artist, the novel is more than what the 1960’s audience perceived it to be. Nabokov did not intend to write a book about a fetish, nor did he, according to Playboy, wish to satirize American culture. The text included more substinance than what people perceived it to be and as did the character Lolita herself, who was more than a teen temptress. His writing of the book has nothing to do about sex, although his initial theme is flawed and an important example of men’s inability to write books featuring authentic female characters, unless they are being used as tools or over sexualized. And much like Humbert Humbert, no matter how hard Nabokov tried to manipulate the text, feelings of empathy still is evoked
Literary critic and the novel’s annotator Alfred Appel Jr. claims “what is extraordinary about Lolita is the way in which Nabokov enlists us, against our will, on Humbert’s side… Humbert has figuratively made the reader his accomplice in both statutory rape and murder” (Durantaye, Style Is Matter: the Moral Art of Vladimir Nabokov 8). Nabokov employs various literary devices such as direct second reader address, metaphor, and allusions through Humbert Humbert as a means to conjure up feelings of empathy. The reader comes to find that . It is clear that Humbert Humbert uses second person address as a way to control how the reader perceives him. Through the use of this narrative mode, he aims to convince the reader that his sexual violence is artistically justifiable and that the art he creates is a remedy for mortality. I will argue is that art is not a remedy for mortality because in Humbert Humbert’s creation of Lolita, t...
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.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
“A Doll House” by Ibsen exposes one of the main trials facing Nora and women of today that a lot of men tend to underestimate women. They assume that
Doris Lessing is definitely one of the most instrumental women writers in the 20th century. In the year 1962, her chef-d'oeuvre The Golden Notebook was published. It is regarded as the companion volume of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. The novel soon becomes popular among the feminists because of its realistic description about women’s independence, consciousness and their living condition. This paper has been written with the aim to interpret The Golden Notebook from feminist perspective. Theme, structure, characters, narrative style of the novel serves well for feminist interpretation. The very structure of the novel makes the theme reach; it reflects not only the fragmentation of Anna’s inner world, but also the chaotic society she lives in. Doris Lessing employed woman as the first person narrator of the novel. She has certainly served as spokeswoman for women’s rights in her life and work. After women have gotten the license, tremendous phenomenon directly illustrate a series of problems in women’s political life. Compared to traditional women, the ‘Free Women’ of The Golden Notebook enjoys free professional life, but they don’t get deserved happiness although they walked out bravely from the kitchen. The relationship between women and children is also a big issue in the crusade of feminism. Feminism has successfully provided the equality of parental rights to women. But the right couldn’t produce harmonious relationship in the lack of ‘fathers’ protection’ between women and children. Lessing’s novel tells us that males are not the enemies of women but they are their collaborators.