Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0011734, Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:27:27 -0700

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Fwd: RE: Lolita Online :
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EDNOTE. Yes, it was for "delectation" -- as is perhaps too much of NABOKV-L
stuff. On the other hand, it and Joanne Morgan's new book are part of the
general "Lolita phenomenon" which is of more psycho-sociological than literary
interest.
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----- Forwarded message from gkenny@hfmus.com -----
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:42:17 -0400
From: "Kenny, Glenn" <gkenny@hfmus.com>
Reply-To: "Kenny, Glenn" <gkenny@hfmus.com>
Subject: RE: Lolita Online :
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum

I presume this was presented for the delectation of the group because of its
inadvertent hilarity, as it is in every other respect worthless. It's always
dispiriting to be reminded that the name-recognition popularity of "Lolita"
(which of course has, alas, little to do with its artistic worth) compels
dribbling, semi-literate "scholars" such as Ms. (it would have to be "Ms.,"
wouldn't it?) Albright to pin the sexualization of children in mass media
entirely on VN; as if the idea of the nymphet had never even existed prior to
VN's coinage of the word. It might have behooved Ms. Albright to, say, examine
Graham Greene's late '30s musings on Shirley Temple, just to provide a single
pertinent example off the top of my head. But that would have entailed doing
some actual fucking work, if you'll excuse the phrase. Easier to blame Nabokov
and set the heads of her fellows wagging in deplorable
herd-of-independent-minds agreement.

GlennKenny

> ----------
> From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum on behalf of D. Barton Johnson
> Reply To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
> Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 11:07 PM
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> Subject: Lolita Online :
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> Running Head: LOLITA ONLINE
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> Lolita Online :
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> Smoking fetishization and the sexualization of under-aged females
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> Julie M. Albright
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> Dept. of Sociology
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> University of Southern California
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> University Park
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> Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281
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> February, 17 2002
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> Main contact information:
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> Dr. Julie M. Albright
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> University of Southern California
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> University Park
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> Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281
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> 626-232-0498
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> albright@usc.edu
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> "> Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the
tip of my tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three,
on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
>
> She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She
was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line.
But in my arms, she was always Lolita.> ">
-- Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov.
>
>
>
> Thus begins Vladimar Nabokov> '> s controversial novel Lolita, the tale of the
middle-aged protaganist Humbert Humbert> '> s pedophilic passion for the 12
year old > "> nymphet> "> Lolita. Because of its subject matter > -> an
unabashed homage to the joussaince of pedophilia - the novel at the time of its
writing was so controversial that five American publishers refused to publish
it. Finally published in Paris in 1954, the London Express reviewers called
the book > "> sheer unrestrained pornography> "> and > "> filth.> ">
Following this, the book was seized by British authorities and banned in Paris
for two years. Although published nearly 50 years ago, controversy continues
to swirl in its wake, as film versions of the book were turned down for
distribution by every major American film studio in 1997, limiting its release
to one week in America, followed by a European distribution mimicking the
history of the antecedent book. Despite the controversy, since the 1950> '> s,
the book has sold over 50 million copies worldwide in 20 languages, and the
Lolita image has found its way into contemporary American culture via
advertising, making the sexualized girl- child > "> Lolita> "> a cultural
icon. Because of this, Nabokov> '> s Lolita is important not just as a work of
literature, but also as a contributor to the ideology of gender relations and
sexuality. Nabokov speaking through the voice of the protagonist Humbert,
describes the sexualized girl or > "> nymphet> "> as the object of his
passionate desire:
>
> "> Between the age limit of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to
certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older than they, reveal their
true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is demoniac); and those
chosen creatures I propose to designate as > "> nymphets.> ">
>
>
>
> The nymphet - a girl-child caught in a particular fleeting moment
of psycho-sexual development, evoked sexual fantasies in Humbert because of her
physical and emotional immaturity:
>
> "> I knew I had fallen in love with Lolita forever; but I also knew she would
not forever be Lolita. She would be thirteen January 1. In two years or so she
would cease being a nymphet and would turn into a > "> young girl,> "> and
then, into a > "> college girl> "> > -> horror of horrors.> ">
>
>
>
> An age difference between > "> maiden and man> "> is specified as important
for the development of this passionate desire, with a gap of > "> at least ten
years and generally thirty or forty> "> in order for the man to > "> come
under the nymphet> '> s spell.> "> Lolita with its evocative imagery of
Humbert> '> s obsession with the brown skinned, musky-smelling pre-pubescent
girl-child Lolita, referred to in the text as > "> my tiny concubine> ">
provides a vivid articulation of the symbolic connection of sexuality,
childhood and adult desire. By doing so, Nabokov contributes to the ideology of
the sexualized child by creating the under-aged > "> Lolita> "> girl-slut
symbol. R.W. Connell uses Gramsci> '> s notion of the > "> organic
intellectual> "> to theorize the role of intellectuals - including
psychiatrists, film-makers and novelists > -> as theorists of gender
relations. Certainly Nabokov can be seen as having functioned in this capacity
by articulating a lucid fantasy of pedophilia, thereby introjecting Lolita into
the collective consciousness and memory.
>
> Since the novel> '> s creation in the 1950> '> s, the Lolita image has gained
widespread cultural currency, especially in the pop culture arena of recent
years. Under-aged sexualized > "> nymphets> "> have turned up striking
various provocative poses in various forms in advertising, in music videos, in
child beauty pageants (as embodied by the news videos of a coquettish, pouting,
and now murdered visage of Jon Benet Ramsey, who may also have been sexually
assaulted), and most recently > -> on the Internet. Online, many websites
feature the Lolita image, yet a little known but growing area of sex fetish
websites are those devoted to tobacco and sexuality, called > "> smoking
fetish> "> sites. The smoking > "> fetish> "> is a little known yet growing
sexual fetish where smoking itself is sexualized. William Dunn, a researcher
working for the Phillip Morris tobacco company cites sexual arousal as an
incentive and motivation for smoking, saying: > "> Smoking according to this
argument [psychoanalytic theory], is the consequence of pulmonary eroticism.
Translated, this means the lungs have become sexualized and smoking is but
another form of the sexual act.> "> (Dunn, W.). Lacan, from the French school
of psychoanalysis has referred to this as > "> respiratory erogeneity> ">
(Lacan, J., 1977).
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> Given the importance of theorizing the role of ideology and the creation of a
symbolic gender order to the practice of gender relations, this paper will
attempt to do several things: First, to recognize how the appropriation and
use of the > "> Lolita> "> image > -> as sexualized child > -> operates as
part of an ideology of the sexualized child at the structural level to serve
the interests of the institution and the state; at the interpersonal level and
at the personal level, and how the practices such a discourse imparts at each
level. First, this paper will argue that the ideology of the sexualized child
via advertising and global markets on the structural level results in the
transformation of childhood such that the child becomes a market commodity.
Using the sex-appeal websites as a case example, how such a transformation: (1)
encourages the sexual exploitation of girls via the > "> the soft porn> "> of
smoke fetish websites (2) encourages cigarette sales and the sale of smoking
fetish related mercha> ndise, and (3) fuels the child global sex trade and the
sale and trade of child porn on the Internet. This paper will attempt to
discuss the tranformation of childhood by the needs / desires of the market and
globalization, where children become commodity on the Net. Secondly, this paper
will attempt to outline how the proliferation of the Lolita image encourages and
fuels the fires of pedophilic desire. Althusser has said that ideology serves
as a socializing agent, carried out through, in part, the ideological
apparatuses of society, including advertising and cultural forms. The
symbolization of the sexualized child on smoking fetish websites (and in other
advertising) serves as a socializing agent by creating what Jo Spence has
called an > "> implicit narrative> "> of the sexually precocious child, making
> "> natural> "> a young girl> '> s sexual desire. Further, Althusser has said
that ideology provides "a representation of the imaginary relation of
individuals to the real condition of existence," thereby giving credence to
the notion that, to re-state the now famous quote about pornography by Robin
Morgan- > "> child pornography is the theory/ pedophilia is the practice> ">
i.e., that sexualized images of girls on sex-appeal related smoking websites
potentially fuels the desire of pedophiles by contributing to the ideology of
girl as sexual agent in the imaginary relations between men and girls provided
by these images. And lastly, this paper will attempt to outline how the
discourse of the sexualized child may impact the self-image and gender identity
of girls, by both encouraging sexual precocity in pre-teens and by encouraging
smoking to achieve a beauty ideal of thinness and attractiveness in teens and
pre-teens by providing attractive, > "> sexy> "> role models for under-aged
smoking.
>
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