That Book by Nabakov

02 March 2007 13:56 Renée 1001 days, book worm, pop culture

It has come to my attention that one might mistake my 50 Books in 1001 Days as the only books that I intend to read during my 1001 days. On the contrary: I intend to read the books on that list in conjunction with whatever else I might feel like reading. As a result, I have read a great deal of books in the past few months that were not on my list.

However, I was inspired to head to the library a few days ago and pick up one of the books on my list because of The Police. I was never a big fan of the group, but since they are supposedly back together now I find my radio station playing their music more often and the other morning they played my favorite song that refers to “that book by Nabakov.”

If you don’t already know, that book by Nabakov is Lolita and it is on my list of 50 books to read in 1001 days.

There are many preconceived notions about the book Lolita, but let me clarify a couple of things: There is not one four-letter word, nor one obvious sex scene. While it is true the narrator is what today we call a pedophile, I believe the overlying theme of the book has nothing to do with the difference in age between the characters or pedophilia, but about Humbert Humbert’s love for Lolita. Whether we find his actions “normal” or not, this man is in love with that girl to the point of obsession.

And though she is a child when the books begins, Lolita’s actions throughout the story made it easy to forget her age. She deliberately plays with Humbert and despite the fact that she is merely twelve years old at the beginning of their relationship, I believe she has a very good idea of what she is doing.

By the time the book finishes Lolita is a young woman; married and pregnant with another man’s child and Humbert’s obsession with her has driven him mad.

If one digs deeply, perhaps they can claim the tragic result of the story serves as a type of morality tale, but according to Nabakov himself, he didn’t “intend” anything when he wrote the book: The story is just a story and it doesn’t “mean” anything at all… and that is just fine with me.

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