LH: very curious indeed; could you tell me where this
quotation comes from?
JM: "On a Book Entitled Lolita", by
V.Nabokov in The annotated Lolita, pages 311-317
(Nov.1956)
While
it is true that in ancient Europe, and well into the eighteenth century (obvious
examples come from France), deliberate lewdness was not inconsistent with
flashes of comedy, or vigorous satire, or even the verve of a fine poet in a
wanton mood, it is also true that in modern times the term "pornography"
connotes mediocrity, commercialism, and certain strict rules of narration.
Obscenity must be mated with banality because every kind of aesthetic enjoyment
has to be entirely replaced by simple sexual stimulation which demands the
traditional word for direct action upon the patient. Old rigid rules must be
followed by the pornographer in order to have his patient feel the same security
of satisfaction as, for example, fans of detective stories feel — stories where,
if you do not watch out, the real murderer may turn out to be, to the fan's
disgust, artistic originality (who for instance would want a detective story
without a single dialogue in it?). Thus, in pornographic novels, action
has to be limited to the copulation of clichés. Style, structure, imagery should
never distract the reader from his tepid lust. The novel must consist
of an alternation of sexual scenes. The passages in between must be
reduced to sutures of sense, logical bridges of the simplest design, brief
expositions and explanations, which the reader will probably skip but
must know they exist in order not to feel cheated (a
mentality stemming from the routine of "true" fairy tales in
childhood). Moreover, the sexual scenes in the book must follow a
crescendo line, with new variations, new combinations, new sexes, and a steady
increase in the number of participants (in a Sade play they call the gardener
in), and therefore the end of the book must be more replete with lewd lore than
the first chapters. (page 313,Penguin Classics)