Men Explain Lolita To Me

[Mark Kohut]

I think to stop at calling it " about obsession" is to leave out essential details, such as LOLITA ( mostly) herself and her ' meanings' by the end of the book. 
But, as I said, we differ it seems. 

Sent from my iPad

> On Dec 18, 2015, at 5:31 AM, Ray Easton <raymond.lee.easton at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I should also have said:
> 
> Lolita is *profoundly* amoral.  It's amorality is central to it,  critical to what it is about.
> 
> Ray
> 
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> 
>> On December 18, 2015 4:17:20 AM Ray Easton <raymond.lee.easton at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I was aware that you were alluding to words of HH himself -- all the more
>> reason to be wary!  HH makes a fictional living out of manipulating the way
>> we see him.
>> 
>> And one ought to be especially wary in this case, given that the novel
>> explicitly pokes fun at the view that this is a morality tale -- that is
>> John Ray's view of the story!
>> 
>> Lolita is indeed more than a stylistic exercise.  It is a presentation of
>> obsession,  perhaps the best there is; certainly the best with which I am
>> acquainted.
>> 
>> The novel itself requires no "moral lesson" for its validation.  It is we,
>> the readers, who want rather desperately to find such a lesson present --
>> in this we are like HH himself. HH no doubt would say to us, while
>> charmingly smiling,  "Hypocrite lecteur..."
>> 
>> Ray
>> 
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>> 
>>> On December 18, 2015 3:25:35 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Yeahp. One--I--can sound silly defending fictional " truth" in such a
>>> writer. so it be. We differ. Nabokov's LOLITA would be nothing but a
>>> stylistic exercise if he did not believe and show in the novel awareness
>>> that pedophilia IS pedophilia. My perhaps lame remark on him " getting what
>>> he deserves" was, if I remember correctly, a verbal allusion to Humbert's
>>> very words as HE suggested his proper punishment, if you will remember.
>>> 
>>> Totally amoral or whatever as you position re Nabokov , you will need to
>>> explain Humber's recognition scene and subsequent awareness.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>> 
>>>> On Dec 17, 2015, at 7:37 PM, Ray Easton <raymond.lee.easton at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> When I say 'Nabakov does not care a fig...' I am not referring to what the
>>>> man in his "non-fic life" did or did not believe.  (I don't care about such
>>>> things.)  I mean that his novels have no moral viewpoint and present no
>>>> moral lessons.
>>>> 
>>>> HH "gets what he deserves" -- you sound like John Ray, Jr., PhD.
>>>> 
>>>> Ray
>>>> 
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>>>> 
>>>>> On December 17, 2015 5:35:40 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> yeah, Nabokov greatly dissed 'morality' in fiction all his non-fic life...
>>>>> but he did believe in themes and human goodness and badness..
>>>>> 
>>>>> some take Nabokov's constant dissing of 'morality' as part-act (against
>>>>> lousy, sentimental poshlost fiction) and part unreliable narrator...
>>>>> 
>>>>> Anyway, he recognized love and death and themes related to and life
>>>>> and sense perceptions and
>>>>> so much more in his own
>>>>> and in others' fictions.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 5:50 PM, Ray Easton
>>>>> <raymond.lee.easton at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Morality -- Nabakov does not care a fig about morality.  And  the novel is
>>>>>> designed to force us to identity not with Lokita, but with HH.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Ray
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On December 17, 2015 4:40:02 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> we have to identify with Lolita because common human morality....to
>>>>>>> read it right....
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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