Lolita - Who Writes the Foreword (and who reads it?)

[@herrklamm1454]

Just finished is. Went back and read this introduction again and my stomach dropped. Without spoiling it, after re-reading the second page I was heartbroken. I wonder what else I could have missed.

[@Scottmbradfield]

You gotta get used to missing a lot when you read Nabokov! Stay safe. s

[@Brandon-tk2rw]

Vivian Darkbloom is an anagram of a famous Russian lepidopterist

[@inknmilk]

Thank you! Agreed, the forewords are just a standalone genre. Maybe the more amusing than forewords are only the cinematic appearance of well-known literature works. Like one in Captain Fantastic when the father told his daughter to read Nabokov's Lolita and then asked her what is she thinking about it (some sort of home education). And the girl started a long long speech about of beauty of love and dedication, and the dramatic music is just popped up, and everyone in the scene was about to cry from happiness and joy and... I was like wtf, did the screenwriter even read the book? I think Nabokov is like Dostoevski -- everyone loves them, but only a few actually had read them.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Yeah, I think you're right. Reading LOLITA is something you tell people to say you love literature... I spent most of my time when I was teaching the book to students trying to get them to realize it wasn't a primer for molestation, or a warning about why you should avoid perverts... (Which is why the "Preface" by that stupid doctor is so funny...) Stay safe and keep reading books for all the wrong reasons! (For example, that they give you pleasure.) s

[@YvesThePoet]

Such a good take on Nabokov and how he works his magic. ❤ Laughter in the Dark might be my favorite...it has this underhanded, twisted sense of sarcastic humor behind it. I read really slowly, and in this case I'm glad I did -- can't just cruise through his books or you might miss the nuance.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Yeah LAUGHTER his easily one of my favorites, too, Have a great new year in the bathtub! s

[@thattimestampguy]

0:00 Teaching Writing ✍🏻 and Reading 📖 (Vladimir) Novokav 1:05 Novokav knows what he is doing. He also, does audacious funny games, making you work all the time. 2:14 Get the Basic Techniques first. (ALWAYS) 3:07 _Laughter In The Dark_ Story as Magic Trick • I am going to do this, look at my hands 🙌🏻 here is what I am going to do. 4:56 Experts, a point of high derission. 6:32 Humpert Humpert • The Preface of a book is at the beginning but is written last, after the book 📕 is completed. 8:00 Names of people we do not know. 9:18 Tip offs. 10:28 Listening very very carefully. 11:07 “I love to fool people.” 12:07 Happens, Happens Again, Recognize Patterns, Go Back.

[@tankardoftales4645]

I finally got a paper copy of Lolita. I got a Crest Giant print from 1959 (the cost was less then 20 dollars). The print said it's Complete and unabridged. In the Foreword (the print I have) - References to "H.H"'s crime may be looked up by the inquisitive in the daily papers for September 1952... The foreword that I found (and is in the audio book) - References to "H.H."'s crime may be looked up by the inquisitive in the daily papers for September-October 1952... Was this October date added after the 1962 movie?

[@Scottmbradfield]

I don't know, maybe there was a slight author approved correction? But the fake "foreword" by an idiot shrink who is totally fooled by HH was in the first edition, I believe...s

[@tankardoftales4645]

@@Scottmbradfield lol. I'm not sure and the change don't add much to the story, maybe clarity following towards the Authors death. I read the foreword 3 times. The heading "Foreword" is misleading. Because HH is not a real person and John Ray is not a real person. I think the "Foreword" should be consider chapter 1 or part of chapter 1. The Foreword reads like "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I cannot see how anybody could take John Ray seriously. His big words make him seem stuffy, I guess that's the intent of VN poking fun at the "experts."

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@tankardoftales4645 By jove I think you've got it! Enjoy VN at your leisure. And speaking of "forewords" wait til you get to PALE FIRE!!!! s

[@paulmaliszewski3611]

Scott, what do you think about Hawthorne's "The Custom House," his intro/preface to The Scarlet Letter?

[@Scottmbradfield]

I used to dread that chapter for decades but then the last few times I taught SL (a novel I do love) I enjoyed it a lot, it's a pretty funny satire on corrupt government hacks and the awful world writers encounter when they have to leave their room.

[@tankardoftales4645]

I have the question... Is it possible the Foreword lied.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Everybody lies in LOLITA! Esp. the "experts"! s

[@tankardoftales4645]

@@Scottmbradfield Thanks... If the foreword lies than can I assume that HH is John Ray Jr. Ph.D...

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@tankardoftales4645 Maybe... what I most remember about the "expert" John Ray is that he gets everything wrong!

[@tankardoftales4645]

@@Scottmbradfield Thanks... Do you think Jury is a play in words? My gut feeling is the Jury is whoever reads the book. It's seems when HH is addressing the Jury, he's addressing the reader. One of the reasons I'm questioning the Foreword, he wants us to believe the book was written to the Jury. Thanks for the replies...

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@tankardoftales4645 One recurring joke in Nabokov is the "unreliable narrator" trying to fool us into believing one thing rather than another, and for VN the biggest fool (and the one who least enjoys good fiction) is the person who believes everything they're told! So doubt VN's characters with enthusiasm!

[@nasrinvahidi5515]

I read Lolita and I was surprised by it. I thought I would find some insight to child molestation but I didn’t. The story said that he liked young girls probably because of an earlier disappointing encounter with a young girl when he was a young boy. The two almost made love but were interrupted and the opportunity never presented itself leaving him hungry and looking for it for the rest of his life. In Lolita he finds a reincarnation of his first passion but as Marx said, history repeats itself, first as tragedy and second time as comedy and there it is the comedy of Humbert Humbert. I’m a woman and can’t know what goes thru men’s mind when it comes to desiring and I know that the story of Lolita has happened many times and it would have happened more if men Would act on their true desires. But the book doesn’t shed a light on this, or many other issues of intellectual interest. It only tells the story and so to me it was a waste of time reading it. I know Scott says to read it again and I might do it to see if my feeling changes but so far, I’m bewildered by all the hooplas about this book.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Hey Nasrin. I understand your perplexedness! I taught Lolita many times and received many responses just like yours! Reading Nabokov requires a rethink of what you're looking for in a novel, and I may try to give a short talk about it soon. For now: LOLITA begins with an intro by a "clever psychologist" who tells you you'll "learn" about child molestors. Nabokov thinks anybody who listens to guys like that are ripe for plucking! Humbert is also a LIAR and MANIPULATOR-just like, Nabokov suggests, these know-it-all shrinks. You need to enjoy the beauty of the novel itself divorced from any belief that you will LEARN something. Nevertheless, Nabokov likes to write about HORRIBLE people and he thinks HH is one of the horriblest! Pretty confusing, right? He's keeping you on your toes! Try LAUGHTER IN THE DARK next! Stays safe.

[@wheelerking8380]

It would be awesome if this was all made up….a guy posts these like he’s a professor…..great humor