>book described online as full of perversion and shock
>open book
>stuff that’s understandable or explainable in the context of the narrative
keeping your tags because this is something im extremely passionate about and I want to share it with you
Vladimir Nabokov never described Lolita as a romance. it was never meant to be one. he actually has trouble publishing it because publishers either wanted him to heavily sexualize Dolores, have more sex scenes, and depict the book as an actual adult/child romance (not the point of the book), or people wanted to censor the topic of the book, remove things Humbert said about her, and sanitize the topic of pedophilia (also not the point of the book).
Lolita is not a romance. it was described as a romance after publication multiple times by people who republished it/reskinned the book or by book reviewers. the story is meant to be one of condemnation and to drive home the point that a predator is anyone, not someone obviously evil and scary monster. the story is meant to emphasize how many predators truly beleive they are morally correct and that their victim's pain means nothing. the book starts with Humbert knowing what he's doing is wrong, but slowly degrades into him justifying it and even pointing out, yet disregarding, that Dolores is visibly suffering.
Humbert is an unreliable narrator. there are many implied violent scenes where Dolores is implied to have been beaten or otherwise physically injured. it is implied Humbert beat Charlotte nearly to death and the reason she ran in front of the car was not to deliver letters, but to instead get away from him.
ive said it already but I'll say it again: Lolita is not a romance and Nabokov never intended it to be one. it is a story written from the perspective of a pedophile with the intention of exposing how they really treat the children theyre hurting, and how they truly beleive that what theyre doing is okay, enough to let slip the abuse in a sanitized version of a diary written in prison. Lolita is based on true stories. Nobokov observed real victims for multiple years before actualizing Lolita.
please know this is not an attack on you, but understand Nabokov never intended this as a romance, and it was retroactively coined as one against his will. he even repeatedly refused to have a girl on the cover of the book because "it would take the focus away from the abuse and instead put the focus onto sexualized depictions of Dolores." (paraphrased.) girls were added to the cover of the book once he no longer had a say in it, despite his very clear requests.
the movie, which was deliberately made by and for pedophiles who advocated for child/adult relationships and abused a real child in the making of, was also made without Nabokov's permission and against his wishes.
hopefully this comes off as I want it to. Lolita is one of my biggest comforts, it makes me feel seen in ways other media depicting CSA doesnt, as someone who as been through the horrors Dolores has been through as well. thank you for reading. ❤️
