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----- Forwarded message from spklein52@hotmail.com -----
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 19:44:49 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Subject: 1940s sex kidnap inspired Lolita ...
To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Message requiring your approval (76 lines)
------------------ [1]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1774602,00.html[2] 1940s
sex kidnap inspired Lolita
The Sunday Times, UK - 21 minutes ago
The Sunday Times - Britain
September 11, 2005
1940s sex kidnap inspired Lolita
Ben Dowell
LOLITA, the novel by Vladimir Nabokov about a middle-aged manÂ’s
infatuation with an underage girl, was modelled on an abduction in
1940s America, according to new research.
The plot for the book, published in 1955, was based on the case of
Sally Horner, a girl of 11 or 12 who was blackmailed into a sexual
relationship by a 50-year-old car mechanic, an academic has found.
Both LolitaÂ’s appearance, and much of the plot, in which the girl
falls prey to Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged academic who takes her
on a road trip across America, show close parallels with the Horner
case.
The findings are likely to stir debate among Nabokov fans and
scholars, who have suggested a range of candidates for the “real
Lolita”.
“It was in the sad story of the New Jersey girl [Horner] that
Nabokov found a psychological explanation of LolitaÂ’s acquiescence in
her role as sex slave,” said Alexander Dolinin, a lecturer in Slavic
literature at the University of Wisconsin and author of several
studies on Nabokov. He describes his findings on the sources of
Lolita in last FridayÂ’s edition of The Times Literary Supplement.
Dolinin reached his conclusions after researching local newspapers
and newswire reports from the 1940s and 1950s — the Horner case was
scarcely noticed by the national media in America.
In 1948 Florence Sally Horner was abducted and kept against her will
by Frank La Salle, a mechanic. After catching her stealing a five-cent
notebook in Camden, New Jersey, La Salle told her he was an FBI agent
and that if she did not co-operate with him, “we have a place for
girls like you”.
Horner spent 21 months living and travelling with La Salle before
she confided her secret to a friend in Dallas, Texas, where she
attended school.
She was found in California when she made a phone call after
managing to slip away from her abductor.
La Salle was jailed for 30-35 years for kidnapping in 1950. It was
widely believed he and Horner had had a sexual relationship and the
judge branded him a “moral leper”.
In the book Humbert, an academic, stays at the house of LolitaÂ’s
mother and becomes infatuated with the daughter. He persuades Lolita
to go away with him on a protracted road trip around America after
her motherÂ’s death.
At one point in the book Humbert refers to the Horner case by name
when reflecting on his behaviour. The full significance of this
reference has not previously been realised, Dolinin argues. “The
second part of Lolita abounds with echoes of the Horner story,” said
Dolinin.
In both the press reports of the Horner case and the novel, the
girls are described as “nice-looking youngsters”, are daughters of
widowed mothers and have brown hair. Lolita’s “Florentine hands” and
“Florentine breasts” evoke Horner’s first name.
Both the reports and the novel refer to the girls as “child bride”
and “cross-country slave”.
Other similarities include HumbertÂ’s claims that he is LolitaÂ’s
father, and the similar duration of the pairÂ’s sojourn together. Like
Horner, LolitaÂ’s time with the older man ends after a mysterious phone
call.
The eventual fate of both girls was tragic. In the novel, Lolita
marries and flees to Alaska with her new husband but dies in
childbirth. Horner was killed in a car accident in 1952.
A number of real-life models have been offered up as possible
Lolitas including Lita Grey, who as a 15-year-old actress had sex
with Charlie Chaplin when he was 35.
Last year it was claimed Nabokov took the idea for the story, which
was filmed by Hollywood in 1962 and 1997, from a 1916 novella written
by Heinz von Eschwege, a German writer, in which the narrator is
obsessed by a girl called Lolita.
Links:
------
[1] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
[2] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1774602,00.html
----- End forwarded message -----
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 19:44:49 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Subject: 1940s sex kidnap inspired Lolita ...
To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Message requiring your approval (76 lines)
------------------ [1]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1774602,00.html[2] 1940s
sex kidnap inspired Lolita
The Sunday Times, UK - 21 minutes ago
The Sunday Times - Britain
September 11, 2005
1940s sex kidnap inspired Lolita
Ben Dowell
LOLITA, the novel by Vladimir Nabokov about a middle-aged manÂ’s
infatuation with an underage girl, was modelled on an abduction in
1940s America, according to new research.
The plot for the book, published in 1955, was based on the case of
Sally Horner, a girl of 11 or 12 who was blackmailed into a sexual
relationship by a 50-year-old car mechanic, an academic has found.
Both LolitaÂ’s appearance, and much of the plot, in which the girl
falls prey to Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged academic who takes her
on a road trip across America, show close parallels with the Horner
case.
The findings are likely to stir debate among Nabokov fans and
scholars, who have suggested a range of candidates for the “real
Lolita”.
“It was in the sad story of the New Jersey girl [Horner] that
Nabokov found a psychological explanation of LolitaÂ’s acquiescence in
her role as sex slave,” said Alexander Dolinin, a lecturer in Slavic
literature at the University of Wisconsin and author of several
studies on Nabokov. He describes his findings on the sources of
Lolita in last FridayÂ’s edition of The Times Literary Supplement.
Dolinin reached his conclusions after researching local newspapers
and newswire reports from the 1940s and 1950s — the Horner case was
scarcely noticed by the national media in America.
In 1948 Florence Sally Horner was abducted and kept against her will
by Frank La Salle, a mechanic. After catching her stealing a five-cent
notebook in Camden, New Jersey, La Salle told her he was an FBI agent
and that if she did not co-operate with him, “we have a place for
girls like you”.
Horner spent 21 months living and travelling with La Salle before
she confided her secret to a friend in Dallas, Texas, where she
attended school.
She was found in California when she made a phone call after
managing to slip away from her abductor.
La Salle was jailed for 30-35 years for kidnapping in 1950. It was
widely believed he and Horner had had a sexual relationship and the
judge branded him a “moral leper”.
In the book Humbert, an academic, stays at the house of LolitaÂ’s
mother and becomes infatuated with the daughter. He persuades Lolita
to go away with him on a protracted road trip around America after
her motherÂ’s death.
At one point in the book Humbert refers to the Horner case by name
when reflecting on his behaviour. The full significance of this
reference has not previously been realised, Dolinin argues. “The
second part of Lolita abounds with echoes of the Horner story,” said
Dolinin.
In both the press reports of the Horner case and the novel, the
girls are described as “nice-looking youngsters”, are daughters of
widowed mothers and have brown hair. Lolita’s “Florentine hands” and
“Florentine breasts” evoke Horner’s first name.
Both the reports and the novel refer to the girls as “child bride”
and “cross-country slave”.
Other similarities include HumbertÂ’s claims that he is LolitaÂ’s
father, and the similar duration of the pairÂ’s sojourn together. Like
Horner, LolitaÂ’s time with the older man ends after a mysterious phone
call.
The eventual fate of both girls was tragic. In the novel, Lolita
marries and flees to Alaska with her new husband but dies in
childbirth. Horner was killed in a car accident in 1952.
A number of real-life models have been offered up as possible
Lolitas including Lita Grey, who as a 15-year-old actress had sex
with Charlie Chaplin when he was 35.
Last year it was claimed Nabokov took the idea for the story, which
was filmed by Hollywood in 1962 and 1997, from a 1916 novella written
by Heinz von Eschwege, a German writer, in which the narrator is
obsessed by a girl called Lolita.
Links:
------
[1] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
[2] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1774602,00.html
----- End forwarded message -----