Examples Of Romanticism About Lolita

There’s nothing romantic about “Lolita”

Literature has proven to have immense power in our society. It shapes our culture, our experience and perception of the world. For a famous novel, such as Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, this is no exception. Lolita is known for its controversial subject: the protagonist and narrator, a middle-aged literature professor named Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a twelve-year-old girl named Dolores Haze whom he nicknames “Lolita”. Through Nabokov’s incredible use of poetic language, this book has often been romanticized. Readers are easily entranced into Humbert’s world and even begin to have sympathy for him by the end of the novel. However, there is absolutely nothing romantic about Lolita’s experiences,

You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine, in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs- the slightly feline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices which despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate- the little deadly demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power. (Nabokov

Nabokov’s manipulation of the English language and his incredible work with descriptions, makes this novel a masterpiece. However, its incredibly anti-feminist nature needs to be discussed more, instead of being dismissed based on its eloquence. The effect that this novel has had in modern media shows that we cannot blame its sexism on its publication date of 1955. Lolita proves to be a detriment to the feminist movement, with its depictions of abuse, a lack of strong female characters and the normalization of pedophilia. Especially today, with positive advances surrounding sexual assault claims and the recent #MeToo campaign, this novel is a step back in the feminist movement. Lolita should be investigated further for what it actually is; a novel that is not romantic at all, and is in fact, incredibly