Subject
Re: Nabokov and Pedophilia (fwd) -Reply
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*** Here is the description Beth is referring to if you do not have SM
handy: "When I was eight or nine, he would invariably take me upon his
knee after lunch and (while two young footmen were clearing the table in
the empty dining room) fondle me, with crooning sounds and fancy
endearments, and I felt embarrassed for my uncle by the presence of the
servants and relieved when my father called him from the veranda: 'Basile,
on vous attend.'" GD***
From:Susan Sweeney <sweeney@HOLYCROSS.EDU>
I have often been struck (like Phyllis Roth and others) by the discomfort
with which VN describes in SPEAK, MEMORY being fondled, as a child,
by his Uncle Ruka. Is it possible that, in writing LOLITA, VN actually
identified, at least partly, with the molested child (Lolita), and not
only with the molestor (Humbert), as is usually assumed? What about the
depiction of little David's sadistic torture and murder in BEND SINISTER,
in this context?
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Associate Professor of English
Holy Cross College
Worcester, MA 01610
Telephone (508) 793-2690
handy: "When I was eight or nine, he would invariably take me upon his
knee after lunch and (while two young footmen were clearing the table in
the empty dining room) fondle me, with crooning sounds and fancy
endearments, and I felt embarrassed for my uncle by the presence of the
servants and relieved when my father called him from the veranda: 'Basile,
on vous attend.'" GD***
From:Susan Sweeney <sweeney@HOLYCROSS.EDU>
I have often been struck (like Phyllis Roth and others) by the discomfort
with which VN describes in SPEAK, MEMORY being fondled, as a child,
by his Uncle Ruka. Is it possible that, in writing LOLITA, VN actually
identified, at least partly, with the molested child (Lolita), and not
only with the molestor (Humbert), as is usually assumed? What about the
depiction of little David's sadistic torture and murder in BEND SINISTER,
in this context?
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Associate Professor of English
Holy Cross College
Worcester, MA 01610
Telephone (508) 793-2690