Having now listened to Lolita as an audiobook I don’t understand how anyone could interpret it as a romance. Yes, it’s written from Humbert’s viewpoint and he’s trying to make himself seem less vile than he is but Vladimir Nabokov is a fantastic writer who makes it very clear how awful Humbert is.
Dolores is in physical pain, she’s angry at Humbert all the time, he constantly watches over her to prevent her from escaping, he considers having children with her so he can continue the abuse against his own offspring, he picks a house close to a school so he want ogle the girls, he does everything in his power to hide what he’s doing to her, and a school psychologist questions him about Dolores’ strange behavior around the topic of sex and relationships just to mention a few things.
He clearly knows he’s hurting Dolores and that she’s always looking for a way to escape while also trying to appease him by initiating sex because as Humbert himself says “she had nowhere else to go” but as soon as she sees a way out she’s gone.
All I can say is if I meet someone who just accepts Humbert’s narrative and truly believes it’s a romance I’ll stay as far away from them as possible while also watching them like a hawk around children. Also, what the fuck Stanley Kubrick? Ew.
