Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

Bizarrely enough this book is infamous despite it being a tale of paedophilia. Despite this uncomfortable outlook, this is a depressing and perhaps beautiful love story about a tortured antagonist who we eventually empathise with, despite his crimes.

This tale focuses on the life of French intellectual Humbert Humbert. His duel name can be said to reflect his duel life as he lies so much, we cannot work out the truth, yet this is all a facade to allow him to disguise his perversions. His sociopathic tendences begins when he is 13 where he meets his ‘first love’ 12-year-old Annabel. Although they didn’t have sex, Humbert describes the lust for each other in a cannibalistic passion (bit creepy, but it is the best way to describe it). This intensity has a lasting impression on the protagonist and failure to have sexual intercourse leaves Humbert with unresolved tension and a thirst for early pubescent girls, which he carries right through into adulthood.

What is probably the worst thing about the story is that Humbert knows what he is, and he is unapologetic about it. Moreover, he tries to justify his behaviour by arguing the cases of paedophilia throughout history and nothing is ever done to stop him. Humbert marries a woman in order to attempt to slay his paedophilic tendences, however he doesn’t love his wife, nor find her attractive in any sense and his lust for young girls can be said to grow. He is also physically abusive to his wife in order to get what he wants.

When he meets Lolita Dolores Haze, his animalistic descriptions increase, and it is almost difficult to read when you remember how old she is. She is incredibly flirty and sensual with other men, not just Humbert and this makes him paranoid as the tale continues. After suspecting her of cheating on him, Humbert locks her in a hotel room. Make no mistake, Humbert loves his little Lolita, however it is to the point of obsession where he uses tricks in order to possess her. After they first have sex, 12-year-old Dolores is not interested in a relationship with a 30 something, instead she wants to explore her own sexuality: she wants “hamburgers, not humbergers”. This infuriates him and forces him to dominate her.

Now, despite Humbert being an evil paedophilic sociopath, the collapse of their relationship is almost heart-breaking. Nabokov’s greatest achievement in the novel is his ability to make us feel empathetic towards a monster. We will never not detest him; however we can sympathise. After reading this book the emotions I felt were confused and almost guilty, like how can I feel bad for a man who rapes 12-year-olds? What does that say about me? I felt a bit panicked at first but after reading other reviews I found I wasn’t the only one and everyone felt guilty for invoking sympathy on a monster.

By the use of Humbert, Nabokov portrays the complexity and duality of human nature and our repressed evils and desires we all cannot control. What I believe Lolita is about is the breaking of possibly the sturdiest taboos to illustrate the mind of a sociopathic paedophile, which is something I’ve never read about, and I doubt many others have too.