ŷ������

You know, we quite happily �� or more correctly, are prepared to, put ourselves inside the mind, or wear the skin of a murderer or a psychopath when reading a first-person narrative. How else can we get to understand the way these beings think and feel? But there is a real reluctance, aversion and repulsion to enter the wicked depths of a paedophile’s mind. For me, this is the hurdle I had to overcome to read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I am so glad I did. I have just read the crescendo ending of this piece of art - and I need to write.

A small snippet of Nabokov’s ability to paint a picture.

Mr Beardsley was a flabby, dough-faced, melancholy bachelor tapering upward to a pair of narrow, not quite level shoulders and a conical pear-head which had sleek black hair on one side and only a few plastered wisps on the other. But the lower part of his body was enormous, and he ambulated with a curious elephantine stealth by means of phenomenally stout legs

Terribly tragic, absurd and funny.

So, the writing is superb, it’s a classic for a reason. Nabokov goes into intricate detail when describing Humbert Humbert’s conniving, manipulative and controlling ways when trying to ensnare the unsuspecting, pubescent Dolores. But he doesn’t provide the same intricate, and in this case pornographic detail, when our villain is satisfying his own carnal compulsions. He goes very close, but to my mind, he does one of two things, he either (1) goes right up to the moment the poor girl is violated or (2) uses metaphor, double-entendre to indicate what happened. He doesn’t need to do more than that.

Make no mistake, HH is a horrible beast of a man. How’s that for a colossal slice of judgement of a man who may be born that way? But to examine that further �� this reader arrived at this conclusion by assessing the consequences of HH's dark obsession. To be sure, he essentially turned Delores into a sex-slave. He also behaved in a deplorable way to Delores�� Mother �� poor woman. Putting it bluntly. his every waking moment was devoted to how to get her and then how to have his way with her.

What a way to ruin a childhood. Destroy a life.

Nabokov’s depiction of Delores is spot-on, she’s flighty, moody, and has nasty turns, the usual stuff you may see with teenage girls (I had 4 of them). However, her occasional flirty behaviour �� must be a consequence of her being sexualised so early. Why would a young girl turn that tap (faucet) on to a man in his thirties? I know young girls can mimic dance moves to music videos on TV, which are unashamedly sexual, and try and wear some of the revealing clothes of their favourite popstars, but that seems different to a 12-year-old girl being flirty �� to a grown man.

Nabokov had me chuckling at some of the ways he describes some of HH’s thinking �� for example when he wondered if, when talking to an amazingly annoying teacher, he should Marry Pratt and strangle her. I wouldn’t normally chuckle at that �� but it was the way he wrote it and the way it ‘popped up��. I didn’t expect this slice of dark humour �� that is often when funny is at it’s funniest.

There was also a laugh out loud moment (really) when HH was talking to, or being talked AT, by Pratt again �� this annoying teacher managed to get Humbert’s name wrong at every turn. Her monologue to him contained the following variations of “Humbert�� - ”Mr Humbird, Dr Humburg, Mr Humberson, Dr Hummer, Mr Hummerson�� I howled. Humbert didn’t even flinch. I can truly identify with that as my surname is often misspelled as “Porter, Ponton or Poston�� but once, hilariously, I received a letter at work addressed to a Mr Morj Porrydon. How the heck can that happen? I am now numb to punters getting my name wrong. HH was too �� it didn’t even raise a mention when Pratt was babbling on.

So, it wasn’t all gruelling, the writing is outstanding and deserves to be appreciated, re-read and/or read slowly. I will DEFINITELY re-read this one, as there is more to be taken from this book for sure. There must also be a study guide I can get my sweaty hands on somewhere. What a privilege to have now recently read Gogol and Nabokov with a wicked splash of Highsmith in between �� a very, very lucky bloke indeed.

I am happy to leave the world of Humbert Humbert for the moment �� Lolita is an amazing story.

5-Stars