Subject: RE: [NABOKV-L] The most transgressive book ever published ("souffler" in Lolita and beyond)
From: "Dmitri Nabokov" <[email-masked]>
To: "'Vladimir Nabokov Forum'" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 09:23:13 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:[email-masked]] On
Behalf Of NABOKV-L
Sent: mardi, 13. juin 2006 18:28
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [NABOKV-L] The most transgressive book ever published
("souffler" in Lolita and beyond)

[EDNOTE.  James Twiggs sends a link to "As American as Apple Pie," an
essay by Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair, which traces the cultural
history and increased acceptability of fellatio.  The opening focuses on
Lolita, in particular.  -- SES]

[. . .] Vladimir Nabokov spoke perfect Russian and French before he
became the unrivaled master of English prose, and his 1955 masterpiece,
Lolita, was considered the most transgressive book ever published. (It
may still be.) Why, then, could he not bring himself to write the words
"blow" or "blowjob"? [. . .]

"Bring himself," indeed! It wasn't part of his upbringing, or of his
style. Are these locutions  prerequisite for admission to the literary
Pantheon? This entire discussion seems to be going on in some adolescent
orgasmic  haze . -- DN

Here's a link to the rest of Hitchen's provocative essay :
<http://www.vanityfair.com/features/general/articles/060607fege05>
http://www.vanityfair.com/features/general/articles/060607fege05

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