Lolita

I have a pretty sweet crush on Russian Literature. It started with a little Tolstoy and then it got more intense when I started exploring Dostoyevsky. For the last couple of years I've been prompted by one person or another to read Lolita by Vladimir Nabkov. For why? According to the friends, acquaintances and complete strangers who've tried to turn me into a little Lolita lover, my thing for the Russians meant that I absolutelypositivelymust LOVE Lolita. This hyper enthusiasm is of course the main reason that I've been avoiding it for all of these years.

I started to give in after it was recommended to me by Sarah D. I call Sarah D. my lit twin we like the same books and we share the same weird habits like reading two books at once and judging books by the attractiveness of their covers. Anyway I respect her opinion immensely so I brought Lolita home but continued to avoid reading it. I caved a few weeks ago and finally read Lolita, not my fault, we can blame Virginia Woolf for that. We're "frenemies" Woolf and I. I've been trying to love her work for years, I want to love her work SO BAD but... I just can't focus on it. I fought my way through To The Lighthouse a year ago and I've been reading Jacob's Room but I had to put it down because I just couldn't. So I picked up Lolita instead.

The truth is that I really did enjoy Lolita but not for the reasons touted by my Lolita lover friends. I did not love it for its "Russian-ness". It does not depict Russia, it is not written about Russia and it does not feature Russians. Correct me if I'm wrong but the only thing Russian about Lolita is its author and so i would NEVER compare this particular Nabkov work to that of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky or anyone in that vein. That said, I DID enjoy Nabkov's alliteration obsession and his frightening command of the English language. I've been speaking English all my life and I will NEVER be half as good as he is.

I'd recommend Lolita to anyone, it's hilarious and Nabkov's beautiful use language protects his perverse masterpiece from being misunderstood as sordid or pornographic literature. My only regret is that I waited this long!