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Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian. The book is internationally famous for its innovative style and infamous for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, middle-aged Humbert Humbert, who becomes obsessed and sexually involved with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze for whom his private nickname is Lolita. After its publication, Nabokov's Lolita attained a classic status, becoming one of the best-known and most controversial examples of 20th century literature. The name "Lolita" has entered pop culture to describe a sexually precocious girl. The novel was adapted to film by Stanley Kubrick in 1962, and again in 1997 by Adrian Lyne. Lolita is included on Time's list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. It is fourth on the Modern Library's 1998 list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th century. It also made the World Library's list of one of The 100 Best Books of All Time.
The novel is a tragicomedy narrated by Humbert, who riddles the narrative with word play and his wry observations of American culture. His humor provides an effective counterpoint to the pathos of the tragic plot. The novel's flamboyant style is characterized by double entendres, multilingual puns, anagrams, and coinages such as nymphet, a word that has since had a life of its own and can be found in most dictionaries, and the lesser used "faunlet." One of the novel's characters, "Vivian Darkbloom", is an anagram of the author's name.
Several times, Humbert begs the reader to understand that he is not proud of his union with Lolita, but is filled with remorse. At one point, he listens to the sounds of children playing outdoors, and is stricken with guilt at the realization that he robbed Lolita of her childhood. When he is reunited with the adult Lolita, he realizes that he still loves her even if she no longer is the nymphet of his dreams. Some critics have accepted Humbert's version of events at face value. In 1959, novelist Robertson Davies excused the narrator entirely, writing that the theme of Lolita is "not the corruption of an innocent child by a cunning adult, but the exploitation of a weak adult by a corrupt child. This is no pretty theme, but it is one with which social workers, magistrates and psychiatrists are familiar."~wikipedia

Films about Lolita

• In "The Missing Page", one of the most popular episodes (from 1960) of the British sitcom Hancock's Half Hour, Tony Hancock has read virtually every book in the library except Lolita, which is always out on loan. He repeatedly asks if it has been returned. When it is eventually returned, there is a commotion amongst the library users who all want the book. This specific incident in the episode is discussed in a 2003 article on the decline of the use of public libraries in Britain by G. K. Peatling.

• In the Woody Allen film Manhattan (1979), when Mary (Diane Keaton) discovers Isaac Davis (Allen) is dating a 17-year-old (Mariel Hemingway), she says, "Somewhere Nabokov is smiling". Alan A. Stone speculates that Lolita had inspired Manhattan. Graham Vickers describes the female lead in Allen's movie as "a Lolita that is allowed to express her own point of view" and emerges from the relationship "graceful, generous, and optimistic".

• In the 1999 film American Beauty, the name of protagonist Lester Burnham—a middle-aged man with a crush on his daughter's best friend—is an anagram of "Humbert learns". The girl's surname is Hays, which recalls Haze. Tracy Lemaster sees many parallels between the two stories including their references to rose petals and sports, arguing that Beauty's cheerleading scene is directly derived from the tennis scene in Lolita.

• In the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers, Bill Murray's character comes across a young, overtly sexualised, girl named Lolita.

Popular Music about the novel

• In The Police song "Don't Stand So Close to Me" about a schoolgirl's crush on her teacher, the teacher "starts to shake and cough/just like the old man in that book by Nabokov."

• In the title song of her mainstream debut album, One of the Boys, Katy Perry says that she "studied Lolita religiously", and the cover-shot of the album references Lolita's appearance in the earlier Stanley Kubrick film. Perry has admitted on multiple occasions to a fascination and identification with the Lolita character and concept. However, the song's lyrics connote a cautionary attitude towards boys as a consequence of reading the novel.
  Though both Marilyn Manson and Belinda claimed the novel as the inspiration for their music, the heart-shaped glasses to which both refer appeared originally in the poster art of the 1962 film adaptation and later on some paperback copies of the novel.

• Marilyn Manson's song Heart-Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand) was indirectly inspired by both the novel and the heart-shaped glasses worn by Lolita in the poster for Stanley Kubrick's film. In a BBC Radio One interview, Manson said he had been reading the novel as a consequence of now having a much younger girlfriend, Evan Rachel Wood. She consequently showed up to meet him one day wearing heart-shaped glasses (which she also wears in the music video of the song). With more direct reference to Nabokov's story, Mexican singer Belinda's 2010 song "Lolita" says that although Nabokov wrote of the heart-shaped glasses it was actually Lolita who invented them. (The glasses appeared originally in the poster art of Kubrick's film of Lolita but the same painting has been on some paperback covers of the book). Belinda's song appears on her the Carpe Diem album, and has been a theme song of two Mexican television series, the telenovela Camaleones and the soap opera Niñas Mal (bad girls).

A closer look at the films based on Lolita (will include spoilers for the novel so beware)

Lolita~1962

"How did they make a movie out of Lolita?" teased the print ads of this Stanley Kubrick production. The answer: by adding three years to the title character's age. The original Vladimir Nabokov novel caused no end of scandal by detailing the romance between a middle-aged intellectual and a 12-year-old nymphet. The affair is "cleansed" ever so slightly in the film by making Lolita a 15-year-old (portrayed by 16-year-old Sue Lyon). In adapting his novel to film, Nabokov downplayed the wicked satire and sensuality of the material, concentrating instead on the story's farcical aspects. James Mason plays professor Humbert Humbert, who while waiting to begin a teaching post in the United States rents a room from blowzy Shelley Winters. Winters immediately falls for the worldly Humbert, but he only has eyes for his landlady's nubile daughter Lolita. The professor goes so far as to marry Winters so that he can remain near to the object of his ardor. Turning up like a bad penny at every opportunity is smarmy TV writer Quilty (Peter Sellers), who seems inordinately interested in Humbert's behavior. When Winters happens to read Humbert's diary, she is so revolted by his lustful thoughts that she runs blindly into the street, where she is struck and killed by a car. Without telling Lolita that her mother is dead, Humbert packs her into the car and goes on a cross-country trip, dogged every inch of the way by a mysterious pursuer. Once she gets over the shock of her mother's death, Lolita is agreeable to inaugurating an affair with her stepfather (this is handled very, very discreetly, despite the slavering critical assessments of 1962). But when the girl begins discovering boys her own age, she drifts away from Humbert. One day, she leaves without warning. This is humiliation enough for Humbert; but when he discovers who her secret lover really is, the results are fatal. We are prepared for the ending because the film has been framed as a flashback; what we are not prepared for is Stanley Kubrick's adroit manipulation of our sympathies and expectations. An incredibly long film considering its subject matter, Lolita is never dull, nor does it ever stoop to the sensationalism prevalent in the film's ad campaign.

Cast

1. James Mason Humbert Humbert
2. Shelley Winters Charlotte Haze
3. Sue Lyon Lolita Haze
4. Peter Sellers Clare Quilty
5. Marianne Stone Vivian Darkbloom
6. Diana Decker Jean Farlow
7. Jerry Stovin John Farlow
8. Suzanne Gibbs Mona Farlow
9. Gary Cockrell Dick Schiller
10. Terry Kilburn Man
11. Copper Penny
12. Roberta Shore Lorna
13. Shirley Douglas Mrs. Starch
14. Roland Brand Bill
15. Colin Maitland Charlie
16. Cec Linder Physician
17. Irvin Allen Hospital Attendant
18. Lois Maxwell Nurse Mary Lore
19. William E. Greene Swine
20. C. Denier Warren Potts

Directors

1. Stanley Kubrick

Producers

1. James B. Harris

Writers

1. Vladimir Nabokov

Trivia

James Mason was the first choice of director Stanley Kubrick and producer James B. Harris for the role of Humbert Humbert, but he initially declined due to a Broadway engagement. Laurence Olivier then refused the part, apparently on the advice of his agents. Kubrick considered Peter Ustinov, but decided against him. Harris then suggested David Niven; Niven accepted the part, but then withdrew for fear the sponsors of his TV show, Four Star Playhouse, would object. Mason then withdrew from his play and got the part. Harris denies claims that Noel Coward also rejected the role.

Tuesday Weld was considered for the title role.

Peter Sellers modeled the voice of his character Clare Quilty on that of his director, Stanley Kubrick.

Sue Lyon was chosen for the title role partly due to the size of her breasts. Stanley Kubrick had been warned that the censors felt strongly about the use of a less developed actress to portray the sexually active 14-year-old.

The famous heart-shaped sunglasses that Lolita wears appear only in publicity photos taken by Bert Stern; Lolita wears cat eye sunglasses in the movie.

Since the censors would allow nothing close to a suggestion of **********, Lolita's age had to be increased from 12 in Vladimir Nabokov's original novel to 14 for the film. They also objected to a scene where Humbert Humbert was to gaze at Lolita's picture while in bed with her mother Charlotte; in the end, the scene was filmed with Charlotte lying fully dressed on the bed and Humbert lying beside her wearing a robe.

Vladimir Nabokov's original screenplay diverged greatly from the novel, but only a portion of it was used by Stanley Kubrick, even though Nabokov gets screen credit. Nabokov later published it as "Lolita: A Screenplay". The unused screenplay featured an Alfred Hitchcock-like cameo for Nabokov, who is referred to as "that nut with a butterfly net" (Nabokov was well known as an amateur lepidopterist). Although he generally admired the movie adaptation of his book, Nabokov regretted the waste of his time in writing a screenplay which was altered so drastically during filming.

Claire Quilty's role in the screenplay was greatly expanded from that of the novel.

In the novel, Lolita is a brunette. In the film, she is a blonde.

One ending that was considered was to have Humbert and Lolita get married in a state that allowed young people to wed; this ending was considered in order to appease the censors.
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Lolita~1997

 

 

Cast

• Jeremy Irons (Ben Silverstone, young) as Professor Humbert Humbert
• Melanie Griffith as Charlotte Haze
• Dominique Swain as Dolores "Lolita/Lo" Haze
• Frank Langella as Clare Quilty
• Suzanne Shepherd as Miss Pratt
• Keith Reddin as Reverend Rigger

Director:

Adrian Lyne

Writers:

Vladimir Nabokov (novel), Stephen Schiff (screenplay)

Trivia

Hospital scenes filmed in Austin High School in El Paso, Texas.

Since actress Dominique Swain was only 15 at the time of filming, a pillow had to be placed between her and Jeremy Irons' lap during all their scenes together.

Interior shots of Clare Quilty's home were filmed in Chinqua Penn Plantation in Reidsville, NC.

Dustin Hoffman was originally signed to play Humbert Humbert before being replaced by Jeremy Irons.

As Dominique Swain was not yet an adult woman when the movie was filmed, an adult body double had to be used for some of the sex scenes.

The film had a hard time in finding a distributor. When filming finally began, New Line Cinema was the distributor, but they dropped the film from distribution when they saw an early cut. It later got a limited cinema run, through a small independent distributor, before finally making a big premiere on the Showtime Entertainment TV channel.

In the novel, Lolita is only 12 when Humbert first meets her. In the film, her age was changed to 14. The same thing happened in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita.

Charles Chaplin's relationship with his second wife Lita Grey was reportedly the inspiration of the novel "Lolita" as she was underage when they first started their relationship.