Lolita...my sin, my soul

I breezed through the book. Read it in a record two days; a record considering the fact that my work commitments did not leave me with too much time to indulge my love of reading. If there has ever been a book which can be called "unputdown-able", this is it.

As soon as i finished reading the book, I felt an urge to discuss it with someone. The book left me so confused. Morality dictated that I should despise Humbert Humbert. He is a pedophile after all. But all I could feel for him was a strange tenderness; in my mind, his love for Dolores Haze redeemed his failings. I felt almost ashamed to admit this. 

So I found out a friend who had read this book. She was shocked at how I felt about Humbert. She was very clear about it all. He was a villain, a scoundrel, a hateful creature molesting pretty little girls. Therefore, you hate him. You NEVER EVER LIKE HIM!

I think the problem lies in the fact that my love of all love stories, however twisted, make me misty-eyed and oblivious to anything wrong. 

But coming back to the book, there is one thing that has to be said. The characters in the book are hopelessly two-dimensional. There are not many instances where the characters would almost come alive and stand in front of you like real people (isn't that the test of good character sketching?). Lolita is almost a stranger; actually, most of what we see of her is through Humbert's eyes. And Humbert himself...he is almost like an illusion, like an idea lost in the poetic language of the book. 

And if truth be told, the idea, the premise of the book is pretty sad. A lustful, lascivious, degenerate man falls in "love" with a teenage girl and probably scars her for life. It is immoral, it makes us wince.

So what is it that made this book so beautiful for me? The language. The poetry in the prose. The book was so wonderfully written, I really haven't read anything like it before. Every sentence seemed to be...dancing- turning, twirling and skipping. Nobokov made everything lyrical and almost beautiful, even pedophilia (and that should be a feat!). I'll say it again, it is mostly the language that made it such a pleasure to read this book. And my favourite quote from the book is "Lolita, light of life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul." B-e-a-utiful!

But I keep coming back to the same question over and over again. Is there any way that we can see Humbert's affections for Lolita as something akin to love and not a mental disorder. Is there any place in this universe where it is forgivable to be a Humbert? Was he really that bad? Did he not love Lolita?

The question of the morality of the book plagues me to this day.

P.S.- I can't get rid of this thought. It has been tickling me ever since it came to my mind. Do you know which is Humbert Humbert's favourite song? My Sharona. 

Oh my little pretty one, pretty one

when you gonna give me some time Sharona

When you make my motor run, my motor run

gun it coming off of the line Sharona.

Never gonna stop, give it up

Such a dirty mind, always get it up

for the touch of the younger kind

My my my Sharona.


Haha.