The Importance of Wordplay in Humbert's Life

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Pitying humbert is not the same as sympathizing with him yes. The wordplay in this book is really fascinating and that's one criticism of namikav that comes up is like that he is more in love with the mechanics of language and with the wordplay then he is with characterization. I feel i don't know that i've done this book justice necessarily, but if it helps because the whole book is from that character's perspective so um but i mean i i think that's most of what i have to talk about.

Usually books try to make you root for the protagonist. Even if he or she is flawed in some crucial way, most stories try to make you feel something for the person whose mind you're inhabiting. That is not the case in Vladmir Nabokov's Lolita.

This week we share with you an uncomfortable discussion about how it feels to read a book told from the perspective of an unrepentant pedophile—how do you feel about him? How do we feel about him? How does he feel about him? The difficult subject matter is just one of the things that has earned Lolita its place in the literary canon.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.