Thursday, August 18, 2011

lolita

The most disgusting book i have ever read is 'lolita', a novel by Vladimir Nobokov. Written and published n 1955. Reason behind reading the book was because its considered among the best in english literature.It was also featured among the Times top 100 best english novels. Before taking up this book i read quite a few reviews, and none of them gave me a preview on what was the content. Almost all of them praised the author for the different narrative style, which i too agree. What i disagree is on the content. In this book the narrator/author is obsessively in love with a 12 year old girl, now isnt that disgusting? As wikepedia says the protagonist here is an unreliable narrator, as in we cannot be sure if its a real story or not!. I cant believe that the book was not banned or stopped from publishing when Salman Rushdie's Satanic versus is banned in this age.
In the book the protagonist Humbert Humbert is not only 'obsessively' in love with the small girl but gets intimate with her too, if you know what i mean. Lolita is the nick name that he puts for the little girl. He has also coined a word called Nymphet for girls in the age group of 9 and 13.
Many of you would have seen the movie already made in the same name. Yet to watch it!
The book itself disturbed me emotionally, cant say how the movie would.

6 comments:

Hari said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hari said...

It's a work of fiction and like any work of fiction it's just a point of view. And I don't believe any book should be banned/burned. The thing about fiction is that, the writer (and for that matter the reader also) need not agree to the point of view or ideas of the protagonists and characters. The narration is supposedly excellent, the premise is well developed. And it says about something which is, sadly, not so uncommon. :(
I can understand the disgust and angst!

soorya said...

thanks Hari..
i agree that the writer and reader need not agree on views but there are certain goddamn things which are against nature.. dont u agree?

Hari said...

Hmmm...We are all part of the nature :) So nothing we do is against the nature.
P.S. :- I detest pedophiles - yes - and if I see one, I might react quite violently! :P

Navaneeth Sen said...

he..he.. good one.. btw there is something called "Lolita Syndrome".. It got this name after this novel..

Vishwamithran said...

let me tellu a thing..i was a very normal kid ol through out ma school life..n tre were a lot like me as my frnds..n frankly we all carried some kinda of fascination for older women..it can be the milkmaid chechi.. the aunty who stayed next house..the teacher who would laugh off ol our pranks..but then we liv in a society which is an adobe of sanctity and it tells u tat that is taboo..n we keep ol these desires deep inside and it dies its natural death..so if i a 12 smthin guy can fall in love with women, twice and thrice ma age several times; y cant a hummert climb down the age factor..human beings r nt jus some robots..they ol have minds of themselves and its strange how it moves @ times..so it not good to banish somethin tats against the norms set in motion..u will never know hw many like Humbert's r tre in th real world!! nyone can write alove story of a 12yrold gal with a 15yr boy..but it takes creative geniuses and freeagents to write a lolita!! :)