As this post hints at [and yes, here I am shamelessly shuttling you off to my commonplace book], Lolita is known as a dirty book. When I was in high school, not having read the book, I thought it akin to literary porn.
Of course, the old Vintage International Cover doesn't help:
[seen here as the cover of the audiobook]
So of course, I'm quite embarrassed when I take this out of my bag at coffee shops in Wheaton, Illinois, where it often seems like the majority of coffee shop patrons are there for Bible studies. I quickly break open the book, hiding the cover and the spine. I think that's easier than saying, "But no, no, no....do you know how beautifully Nabokov writes?"
6 comments:
Try reading "The Satanic Verses." I carried that book around in high school, which required much deft maneuvering of the cover. It was hardcover. That was difficult.
- this is Miriam. Clearly too many people use my computer.
did i tell you how i listened to lolita on a roadtrip back to chicago from detroit? i had been driving a benedictine abbot around the midwest the last three days or so, visiting monasteries, frequent liturgies and so on. he even prayed the hours in the car in the evenings, i'd be driving and he'd be chanting. anyway, in detroit i stopped at barnes and noble to buy a audio book, got lolita. i must say that it was a strange juxtaposition. and i felt just a wee bit shall i say naughty. but yes of course, that nabokov does write well.
I guarantee you, my book will be one you will have to hide. Where are the pages you promised? Of course I knew they'd be late, but would you mind letting me know exactly how late?
Critic.
JMH
I remember feeling uncomfortable on the Chicago L when I was carrying around the famous Harlem Renaissance anthology The New Negro.
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