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The Annotated Lolita: Annotated edition By Vladimir Nabokov ISBN13: 9780141185040

In writing ‘Lolita’, Vladimir Nabokov has chosen a very difficult topic to demonstrate his writing prowess. Why? Because many - if not most - readers have formed views about the subject matter and the characters before they have read the book. My review is not of the content but of the writing and the ambiguity of language.
Words are used to both summarise facts and to create fiction. Differentiating the two is not always easy, especially if the subject matter is distasteful. Our own views colour our relationship with the book, but should they also influence our assessment of literary worth?
Much of the journey with ‘Lolita’ is undertaken from within the mind of Humbert Humbert, a paedophile, and his fixation on the eponymous Lolita. This is a book which, in my view, cannot be effectively translated into a movie. It is a book where the power of language and the images and reactions created at an individual level have the most impact. We are usually in Humbert’s mind and, for me. that is not a comfortable space to occupy. And yet amidst Humbert’s scattered, fixated thoughts and cunning but ultimately doomed plans are glimpses of beauty. The butterfly references can be read on a number of different levels: I choose to see the symbolism of transient but elusive beauty.
So what is it about ‘Lolita’ that makes it worth reading? Simply, the power and beauty of Nabokov’s writing. But that particular beauty depends upon which book you choose to read.
I have read this book twice in 40 years. Each time, I have formed different views. This book is not a paean to paedophilia: it is an illumination of the labyrinths of the human mind.