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ANALYZING NABOKOV ...
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http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Books/article/483178
ANALYZING NABOKOV
How Lolita can we go?
Graham Vickers defends the little girl's honour in his outrageously readable literary criticism
Aug 23, 2008 04:30 AM
Kim Hughes special to the star
Chasing Lolita: How Popular Culture Corrupted Nabokov's Little Girl All Over Again
by Graham Vickers
Chicago Review Press
256 pages, $27.95
Poor dear Lolita. Has any fictional character been as misunderstood, marginalized or maligned as Vladimir Nabokov's legendary "nymphet?"
Evidently not. And in his outrageously readable literary criticism-slash-pop culture survey of her fate, Graham Vickers is determined to defend Lolita's honour through a keen analysis of Nabokov's original novel, which received instant infamy on its release 50 years ago this summer and remains among the most referenced yet most misinterpreted tales in literary fiction.
Sifting through heaps of contemporary material – from films to pop songs, Japanese fashion trends to improbable musicals and movies-of-the-week – Vickers demonstrates how Lolita has become a handy synonym for the "precocious temptress, a cunning underage vixen who'll stop at nothing to get her man."
Just one problem – the real Lolita (at least the character as written by Nabokov) was the victim of a sexual predator and not some wily tramp. "How," ponders Vickers, "could this have happened?"
How indeed? Really, it's not as if society's perception of pedophiles has changed that dramatically in 50 years ... right?
"When the Los Angeles Public Library was `exposed' for circulating a copy, the only result was a boom in the sales of the book in California. The Texas town of Lolita gravely debated whether it should change its name to Jackson, presumably in case it was mistaken for a little girl.
"But the feared American obscenity trial never took place – at least not in a courtroom. Instead, the book became the butt of endless jokes and cartoons. Again America was absorbing something controversial into its popular culture instead of subjecting it to a witch hunt.
"Mainstream comedians all had a Lolita gag, the unspoken basis of the joke being that Lolita was a dirty book. Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Steve Allen, Dean Martin, and the rest all cracked wise, although only Grouch Marx's parodic gag wears well: `I've put off reading Lolita for six years, till she's 18.'"
Child molestation as a socially accepted source of comedy for the suburban set? Kind of makes similarly antiquated notions of cigarettes being doctor-recommended and women being inferior to men seem kind of quaint.
Luckily, Vickers is the perfect man for the job of restoring Lolita's good name. No lightweight in the research department, he is also a huge fan of the original work – you get the sense Vickers is motivated by a burning desire for accuracy, not revisionist history.
Clearly, it pains Vickers that a misguided hussy like Amy Fisher – dubbed the Long Island Lolita by the New York tabloids after her sensational affair with an older man – could be mentioned in the same breath as Nabokov's poignant creation, who was not a gimmick but a doomed protagonist in a disquieting morality tale.
"All this playfulness marked the beginning of Lolita Haze's disparagement; the advance guard of what would prove to be a legion of faux Lolitas (soon to emerge). Perhaps the very first was the ponytailed little girl who, incredibly, on Halloween came to the Nabokovs' door looking for treats while dressed (by her parents!) as Lolita; the famous name spelled out on a sign she bore and – even more sinister, since it betrayed a detailed knowledge of the book – she carried a tennis racquet.
"Nabokov was quite shocked. If only he had known what lay in store for his nymphet."
If only. The world may never be dissuaded of its perception of Lolita as a lollipop-sucking floozie but at least someone has attempted to set the record straight. And his book is dynamite. Nabokov can rest easy.
Kim Hughes is a Toronto writer and editor.
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