Subject
Dolorology: Literature Struck Another Blow in Canadian Parliament
Date
Body
A small item from the Ottawa Citizen, February 3, 1999:
Lolita too hot for some Reform MPs
Byline: Glen McGregor
The novel Lolita, which has been made into a film starring Dominique Swain as
a 12-year-old who has an affair with her stepfather, has no place in the
Parliamentary Library, some Reform MPs insist.
It is one of the most controversial books in the history of modern literature,
but its child-sex theme has some Reform MPs saying it has no place in Canada's
Library of Parliament.
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita recounts an obsessive sexual love affair between the
adult narrator and his stepdaughter, Lolita, who is 12 years old at the book's
opening.
"Is that a norm in our society? A sexual relationship between an adult male
and a 12-year-old? I don't think it is," said Reform MP Art Hanger, who said
he has never read the book but doesn't think it belongs in the Library of
Parliament.
"I think they should basically remove it.''
I think there has to be some level of standards," Mr. Hanger said. "I don't
find it a work of literature."
D. Pocklington/Amused Nabokovian
Lolita too hot for some Reform MPs
Byline: Glen McGregor
The novel Lolita, which has been made into a film starring Dominique Swain as
a 12-year-old who has an affair with her stepfather, has no place in the
Parliamentary Library, some Reform MPs insist.
It is one of the most controversial books in the history of modern literature,
but its child-sex theme has some Reform MPs saying it has no place in Canada's
Library of Parliament.
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita recounts an obsessive sexual love affair between the
adult narrator and his stepdaughter, Lolita, who is 12 years old at the book's
opening.
"Is that a norm in our society? A sexual relationship between an adult male
and a 12-year-old? I don't think it is," said Reform MP Art Hanger, who said
he has never read the book but doesn't think it belongs in the Library of
Parliament.
"I think they should basically remove it.''
I think there has to be some level of standards," Mr. Hanger said. "I don't
find it a work of literature."
D. Pocklington/Amused Nabokovian