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Comment by nineplay | Hacker News Reader

"her sobs in the night - every night, every night - the moment I feigned sleep"

Just a reminder that this is not a book 'glorifying sexual relationships'. This is not a book about a seductress. This is not a book that plays with ideas of consent.

Nabakov is playing a game with the reader, trying to trick the reader into believing that there is any truth in Humbert's narrative. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that many readers still fall for it.

It's an amazing book, one of my favorites, but it's a book that has to be read - not skimmed.

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It's been a long time since I read it, but my impression at the time was that it spent way too much time dwelling on an unpleasant subject, and that one line showing that the author knows what he's doing doesn't redeem it. I came away rather mystified: what's the point of spending so much time in this character's head?

One thing I find fascinating about Lolita is that it is a study in erasure. Society so often tends to erase the victim while giving the abuser a voice, especially when the victim is a child or otherwise powerless and the abuser is powerful and articulate. Lolita gives us a narrative entirely under the control of the abuser and challenges the reader to see through it to the Dolores Haze underneath. Exercising this skill in fiction may encourage us to equally avoid an unquestioning reading of real abusers exculpatory narratives.

This seems like a “what if the author is playing 3D chess” kind of excuse. When there’s enough game playing going on, it becomes a Rorschach test where there’s evidence to support multiple fan theories. Like, what if all the intellectual sophistication is a smokescreen for something else?

Perhaps even 5D chess with multiverse time travel (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349230/5D_Chess_With_Mul...).

Sorry could you be more explicit for thick people like me? What's the game, and what's the author trying to trick the reader into believing?

I’ve never read it, but I think the idea is the character in the book is convinced he is doing nothing wrong. And the “game” is to get the reader to think the same.

Sounds like the game is getting people to give him a pass because "it's just a prank bro".

Yes, I confess I fell for it. Sigh. Good to point out.

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