jethrien

Title: The Annotated Lolita
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Genre: Literary fiction
Thingummies: 4

Synopsis: The classic unreliable narrator seduces the reader into a story of child abuse and incest.

Thoughts: So complicated a book can only result in equally complicated emotions.

This is a brilliant work of art. The language shimmers like a heat mirage, generally obscuring and only occasionally offering a glimpse of the "truth". Whether there is even a "truth" to be seen is another question--Nabokov has no remorse about teasing the reader, reminding them that this is all a work of fiction. Humbert Humbert is a revolting man, and Nabokov is careful to slip reminders in, lest we fall too deeply under his spell. But we're intended to fall, and we do. And in following along, we become complicit--and yet, it's all a joke, isn't it? Isn't it?

It's also dense as hell. Nabokov weaves in puns, allusions, and puzzles that are impossible to get without multiple readings of all of his works, along with an extensive knowledge of other literary works and also lepidoptery. In theory, this makes an annotated version particularly useful. In practice--I hated the editor. Hated him. He is far more interested in proving his own cleverness and repeatedly name dropping to prove how close he was to Nabokov than in actually enlightening the reader. He spoils surprises unnecessarily and then ignores important events. He assumes that the reader has already read not only Lolita but all of Nabokov's other works, repeatedly referencing other books without ever giving enough context to actually understand the reference. He's that guy at the party that you want to gnaw your own arm off to escape. (What, you haven't? Maybe I've been going to the wrong parties.)

So this is a good book to read with notes to go alongside. Just maybe not this particular set of notes.