Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

July 29th, 2008

Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita
309 p.

For Russian Reading Challenge.

Replik, 2001.
(First published 1955.)

Back cover blurb:

none (they stuck the bar code over the text!)

So, Lolita. A tale about peadophilia and desire and such things. And, surprisingly, a dull tale. I expected it to be many things, but dull was not one of them. Everyone speaks so warmly about it! (though, of course, damning the subject.) But I, however I tried, could never really find it very interesting. In my eyes it was to a great extent the rantings of a deranged man. (A man who willingly calls himself Humbert Humbert can’t be sane, especially as he sometimes, in first person, describes his actions in third person. What!)

Of course, I could blame this on that I read it in translation. It was full of tiny, annoying typos (e.g. Lo!ita), but I can’t say it was a bad translation. It is of course possible that the translation was bad but well-written.
I must say I really liked Nabokov’s language, even though I didn’t care too much about the story. It flowed nicely, and it built a feeling which, although it made me quite uneasy, was believable. Naturally, I believe the language is even better in the original language, so I assume I’ll have to read something more by Nabokov, then in English.

(Okay, to distract our thoughts for a moment, here’s a fun story about the first Swedish translation of Lolita. The man who translated it shared Humbert Humbert’s passion for young girls, and added to the story several explicit sex scenes. After some time, I believe it was after publication but I can’t swear on it, Nabokov read the Swedish translation. He was one of these writers who knew every language. He, of course, was more than a little surprised to find stuff in the novel that he hadn’t written! Needless to say, in all subsequent editions these added passages have been removed.)

I’m a little sad I didn’t like it much. I mean, T-Rex in Dinosaur Comics talks loads about it! And other people, too! Though, I guess, you can’t like everything. And perhaps, it might have been the burning sun and the 30 degrees Celsius that put me off. I feel that it might not really be a lazy beach book. Still, now I have read it, and one day I might re-read it and discover that it really is terrific. It might be one of these books that has to grow on you, and I might have given it too little time. How can I know?

Entry Filed under: Challenges, Classics, Fiction, Russian Reading Challenge, Swedish