Bibliographic title
Arts, Humanities, Sciences, Uses
Periodical or collection
New Literary History
Periodical issue
v. 44, no. 4
Page(s)
577-96
Publication year
An evolutionary perspective on the question of the "uses" of the arts and humanities. On pp. 590-93 discusses Lolita: "In and around Lolita, Nabokov foregrounds the question of the 'use' of Lolita and of literature, and from the year of its publication others have challenged or affirmed the novel’s 'use' (590), not only through John Ray, Jr.: "In Lolita, Nabokov throws down a strong challenge to his own chosen art. Despite John Ray, the pages that follow his foreword show literature cannot guarantee superior sensitivity or conduct. It is no accident that the two men who prey on Lolita are both littérateurs" (592).