We may as well admit it: Nabokov’s Lolita is designed to arouse our desire. But how exactly does it work?
Three Seminars on Nabokov’s Lolita
If Lolita excites me, should I feel bad?
We may as well admit it: Nabokov’s Lolita is designed to arouse our desire. But how exactly does it work? How does Nabokov encourage readers to take pleasure in Humbert Humbert’s pedophilic experiences even if they don’t share his perversity?
What does Lolita tell us about America, then and now?
What does Lolita the book reveal about postwar American society? What might the book’s continuing popularity suggest about the yearnings and anxieties of Americans today?
Moral instruction or aesthetic bliss: What is Lolita trying to accomplish?
The fake editor who introduces Humbert’s account, John Ray Jr., suggests that it offers an important moral lesson. But Nabokov denies such an agenda, insisting that his only goal is to produce “aesthetic bliss.” Who should we believe? Are the two aims mutually exclusive or could the novel be doing both at the same time?
Tim Aubry is an Associate Professor of English and Deputy Chair of the Baruch English Department, specializing in American Literature from the twentieth and twenty-first century, contemporary fiction, literary theory and criticism, and popular culture.
711 Franklin Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238
$15 per session, or $40 for all three.
When: Tue., Dec. 29, 2015 at 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm
We may as well admit it: Nabokov’s Lolita is designed to arouse our desire. But how exactly does it work?
Three Seminars on Nabokov’s Lolita
If Lolita excites me, should I feel bad?
We may as well admit it: Nabokov’s Lolita is designed to arouse our desire. But how exactly does it work? How does Nabokov encourage readers to take pleasure in Humbert Humbert’s pedophilic experiences even if they don’t share his perversity?
What does Lolita tell us about America, then and now?
What does Lolita the book reveal about postwar American society? What might the book’s continuing popularity suggest about the yearnings and anxieties of Americans today?
Moral instruction or aesthetic bliss: What is Lolita trying to accomplish?
The fake editor who introduces Humbert’s account, John Ray Jr., suggests that it offers an important moral lesson. But Nabokov denies such an agenda, insisting that his only goal is to produce “aesthetic bliss.” Who should we believe? Are the two aims mutually exclusive or could the novel be doing both at the same time?
Tim Aubry is an Associate Professor of English and Deputy Chair of the Baruch English Department, specializing in American Literature from the twentieth and twenty-first century, contemporary fiction, literary theory and criticism, and popular culture.
711 Franklin Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238
$15 per session, or $40 for all three.
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If Nabokov’s Lolita excites me, should I feel bad?