Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

Because of its depiction of the sexual obsession of a suave, literary pedophile's for a prepubescent girl, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita shocked readers and critics alike upon publication. However, the narrator, Humbert Humbert, attempts to provide us with an account of his "nymphet love," in a manner that tries to justify his pedophilia as driven by an artistic aesthetic. In fact, Humbert will kill Quilty, another suave, literary pedophile, because he sees Quilty as desiring Lolita merely due to lust and not due to any kind of aesthetic. The aesthetic Humbert maintains drives his desire for Lolita is the perfection of her just blooming power of sexuality, still imbued with innocence but at the same time powerfully alluring. Humbert explains this aesthetic via a former passion he maintained for another nymphet named Annabel Leigh.

The sexual and sensual awakenings combined with the innocence in such nymphets make Humbert unwilling and unable to control his desires. Despite the obvious pedophilia involved in Lolita, bordering on incest since Humbert becomes Lolita's step-father, Humbert asks us to judge his story. He maintains he has suffered quite enough for his deeds, primarily because of the heartbreak he endures due to the loss of Lolita and his role in the loss of her innocence. Lolita is like a beautiful butterfly just emerging from a cocoon when Humbert first encounters her. By the time she no longer wants him, she has undergone metamorphosis i

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ly on his own interaction with Lolita because in losing her and causing her loss of innocence he has suffered greatly already. Whereas Quilty is viewed by Humbert as merely selfishly satisfying his lustful desires with no regard for the welfare or injury inflicted on his nymphets, Humbert compares himself more to the hunter who is enchanted by the magical powers nymphets hold over him. If he views Quilt as a degenerate pedophile, he views himself as someone who appreciates the beauty of prepubescent sexual develop and innocence, qualities he knows are temporal and cannot be captured for long, like someone who hunts butterflies but cannot keep one for long. In the loss and change of Lolita, he maintains his suffering is punishment enough for any untoward behavior others may view him having committed. Many critics have argued that the entire novel is merely Humbert's case to convince us he is innocent of any moral transgression by having sex with a minor. As Kennedy argues, Humbert is talking to the jury. It's a mask behind a mask, a screen behind a screen. Humbert the manipulator is so thoroughly, speculatively, successfully manipulative that we are reminded how vigilant we have to be not to be taken in (120). The language of

Category: Literature - V