Nabokov was a butterfly collector and he said Lolita was a
type of butterfly he was trying to capture. He said the novel
was a metaphor for his interest in butterflys.
Seriously!
Patrick King
---
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net wrote:
> Patrick lectured me for my implication that
he
> regarded humor and
> seriousness as mutually exclusive:
>
> "Mark, when you do this kind of thing it's called
'a
> strawman argument.'
> That is, I say something and you reposition what
I
> say to be something
> you, or anyone else for that matter, can
easily
> refute. It's a form of
> sophistry and unworty of serious argument. When
I
> say Nabokov uses humor
> in Lolita to TAKE THE EDGE OFF WEIGHTY TOPICS,
etc,
> it does not
> therefore follow that I think all humor has
no
> substance."
>
> I'll allow that, however . . .
>
> "My point, which I'm absolutely certain you
fully
> comprehend at this
> juncture, is that while there is humor
sprinkled
> throughout Lolita,
> Lolita is NOT, like Jeeves Takes Charge,
Forest
> Gump, or How I Won The
> War, a 'funny book.'"
>
> No, I do not at all understand that Lolita is not
a
> funny book. I
> understand that YOU do not regard it a funny
book.
> Several others have
> testified that they found Lolita very funny. And
I
> have heard other
> people whose taste in and opinions of literature
I
> respect claim the
> same. Is it sophistry for me to find it
arrogant
> that you allow no
> correct response to the book but your
own?
>
> "Lolita is designed to give the reader an
occasional
> smile while
> considering the circumstances in life that
can
> create this sort of
> dangerous situation."
>
> And we're back to my impression that there are
some
> subjects that you
> find so weighty and serious that you could
never
> regard them as funny,
> regardless of their treatment (I bet we all
have
> such areas, though not
> the same ones). Pedophilia clearly seems to be
such
> a subject for you.
> In a prior post, you mentioned some morbid
things
> you do find funny, but
> (and excuse me if you feel I'm putting words in
your
> mouth, but this is
> how I remember it) that pedophilia is too
"dangerous
> [a] situation" to
> ever be funny. Hence my inferring you find
some
> subjects too weighty
> for humor.
>
> Has Nabokov ever discussed his use of humor in
the
> book? Has he ever
> said whether or not he regards Lolita as
funny?
> (This is not
> rhetorical, I really don't know.)
>
> Mark
>
>
>
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