Longwinded, cursory yet repetitive, fails to mention the key word “rape”, misinterprets what some people mean by “love story” (although mostly the interpretation is correct). While the author’s intention is sometimes irrelevant, to completely disregard it (or want to, or begrudgingly but barely acknowledge the intention) is absurd, especially with a finely wrought novel as Lolita or others of his. You conflated pedophilia, a woeful medical condition, with hebephila, which is not just woeful but more accurately describes his predilection, and thus the latter with child molestation and rape, which are crimes. Returning to “love”, Humbert’s is, by the last period of the last sentence, a love-or at least, he is on the precipice of love. This doesn’t absolve him of or mitigate his wrongdoing, and he’s not redeemed, but even if he doesn’t arrive at love or redeem himself, I think it’s cruel to dismiss the pathos of sad, gladmasked Humbert as he humorously wrings the iron bars of his sordid cage. And before I go, because this is important: sorrow for Dolores too.

Absolutely NO apologies needed here, it's just great to see any video from you when one pops up. Maybe I'm an odd duck but some of my favorite videos are one's that are totally different to my experiences, I LOVE hearing about your grad school and assignments as I don't think grad school will ever be in my life. Also, one of my all time favorite videos is one by you, talking about Shakespeare using your white board ! Good luck with your meeting next week to talk about your paper

Hi Valerie! I enjoyed this chatty video and the different subjects you addressed. I remember when newspapers included poems and short stories, especially the weekly papers that crammed seven days of information into five skimpy pages; they were the pulse of the town. I fully understand why grad school made it difficult to produce videos with any continuity or form. When reading becomes data collecting, you don’t have time to enjoy the process. Regardless, I hope you continue to take us along with you in the summer project, and when time permits talk about any leisure reading you’re doing as well. I’m very interested about your thoughts on Emma, since I’ve always found it hard to enjoy Jane Austen’s work-no doubt my shortcoming and not hers. See you soon, I hope!

Welcome back! Other than Dickinson I haven’t read any of these.

great to see your video as a recommendation - welcome back.

Welcome back !!! Great to hear your recommendations as always, I love hearing you talk about The Maltese Falcon. I live in Orillia, On. Canada which I feel is the definition of a literary town, the home of Stephen Leacock who wrote "Sunshine Sketches Of A Little Town". His home is now a museum and every year the Stephen Leacock Medal For Humor Award is presented in a weekend long event in town.

Great to see you back!

Dear Valerie, when you showed up this morning, I was very delighted and happy to see you! No apologies necessary for your absence, though I have been concerned, and praying all was well. Beginning with Emily Dickinson’s poem A Funeral in My Brain is a perfect commentary on how I felt while you were away. Isn’t she simply the best? The mystical way she describes her feelings amidst the surrounding procession of a burial is brilliant and sad together. I enjoyed all your commentary about social position, money, crime, poverty, and economics; you have drawn out some interesting points for discussion relating to these genres. The wildcard book was perfect too, because its author was a pretty unpredictable character. Welcome back and I can’t wait for your next update!

I'm so glad to see you back! I missed your videos and as you were quiet on Instagram too, I didn't want to disturb you asking if everything was OK. I'll be looking forward to all the fun content you have planned. Happy 4th of July and happy return!

Welcome back! Noting down your recommendations 🎉

I’m glad to see you back on booktube! I hope you are well.

what i like about the age of innocence is the subtle way in which newland's (and narrator"s who is not omniscient but follows only him and his thoughts ) way of thinking and its evolution is undermined without being put in to words. for instance, he remains innocent and stupid at the end, thinking it was may who was stupid and innocent. also the age of innocence, written after ww1, has lot of nostalgia for the "old new york" of mid to late 19th century not just in materiel aspects, unlike her earlier books like the house of mirth, which are written sort of with newland's mindset. -- here is a "random" quote from oscar wilde. “what are american dry-goods?" asked the duchess, raising her large hands in wonder and accentuating the verb. "american novels", answered lord henry. sometime i think that is "true" not just of american novels.

Welcome back! I'm so glad you were okay and just busy. I hope grad school has been awesome! 💖

finished it a couple of months ago and I'm still disturbed. It's well written but gosh being in that man's head for so long was uncomfortable.

This is one of the few books that I have read that I would really call masterpiece. And I've read a lot. It's almost you have to say " except for the subject matter. Just to make an excuse for liking it

"Unrelabile" as if it was real in the first place, Which it isnt. Theres no lines to read between and truth to uncover because its a work of fiction. Yes Humbert was a pedofile but its his story and there's no other facts to be gleaned or interpreted. You have to take his story at face value because there is nothing behind that face.

Humbert Humbert was an Hebephile not a Pedophile!

Really happy I came across this video because I am currently halfway through Lolita and am feeling so conflicted because I feel icky just reading it and yet his writing is good and I want to know how it ends.

You miss another strong point…it is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.

11:03 Saying that searching "Lolita discussing threads" in reedit would probably produce weird results, is the biggest understatement ive ever heard😂😂😂. Great review. Lots of respect for having a good panorama.

There have been so many adaptations of this novel over the years since it's release. Expected backlash and controversy was met upon its release, and to this day, still, it is vivid in its arguments and discourse online or in conversations. I completely agree with everything you have said and spoken about on this book. It's so silly to me that people still have the misconception of it's supposed "glorification of ped*philia", when that's not what it's doing at all. If you read it, you would know. Most people are uncomfortable with discussing or viewing such topics of violence, especially because it is so daunting and sick. However, I believe if we continue to ignore this book, and scoff at its name, or become(once more)quick to judge it's morals, it's a floodgate that will never close soon. Men opened it centuries ago, and we haven't been able to protect all of them: the children who grow into adulthood and wonder if they will ever find a real love in their new independence. They've become conditioned to resist, to restrain, and to forgive the wrong people at times. (For reference... I am 18 yrs old now. Just turned so a month ago. About around the age of 14, I was being groomed till 17, when I finally escaped the situation.) Coming across Lolita was like a breakthrough for me, personally. I remember finishing the book and having a sense of relief for myself and my situation. It was pretty hard to digest all of it, but I don't regret it. Not one bit. I plan to reread it sometime in the future, as well. If you're still a little weary about the films, I wouldn't watch the Stanley Kubrick adaptation, nor the 1990s version. I've come across, in my feminist research over the years, a French director and writer by the name of, "Catherine Breillat". She's most known for her film 'A ma seóur!(a.k.a 'Fat Girl)'. Its on the criterion collection, however I recommend watching that after seeing '36 Fillette'. It's one of the many loose adaptations of 'Lolita', but comes from the child's perspective; a 14 year old, Lili, stand-offish and quick at the tounge, but searching for desire and only her desire. The film can be a bit provocative, but never exploitive. I suggest reading a little into Catherine and her "metacinema". She's definitely a great a d established autuer pioneer in the taboo cinema wave. Enjoyed your video! You're very articulate.

Hey! How is grad school going? 🩵

A good selection, but I would like to recommend a couple of other foreign authors who have somewhat shorter, but dense, books. These are two Austrians Stefan Zweig and Arthur Schnitzler. Zweig was the best selling author of his time the 1920's.

With a master's degree you can definitely work at a community college as a professor.

Humbert Humbert wasn't a pedophile since he was only attracted to pubescent girls, not pre-pubescent. Also, was Raskolnikov an unreliable narrator in Crime and Punishment? Aren't all novels told from a first person perspective unreliable?

I can't get out of that shit I know what happened to lolita is painful and wrong but still that videos can't going anywhere from my mind. Fuck that author who write this book and the movie is so bad .no one must not see that shit .it's a very very bad movie

What's wrong with you? Why you don’t uplode video.🥺

The Lolita movie that Kubrick created with screenplay of Nabokov, has another storyline and it doesn't have the sensual details like the book itself

Great video for the most beautiful novel ever written. And yes. It's am unreliable narrator

great video! i am currently reading lolita and its taken me longer yo get through than i was expecting. but, calling back to what you said, there is so much information in each sentence, it would be a waste to skim through all if it. its been so interesting to read because every single thing humbert says has you questioning it

I was motivated to read Lolita after reading the book Reading Lolita in Tehran. I saw the movie years ago, which was very disturbing, though well-done. The book takes us in to the mind of a sick and twisted criminal, and we are meant to have contempt for him. I'm still searching for a deeper understanding of the book, but have found few people with whom to discuss it.

You did a great job voicing why Tolstoy is so appealing.

I’m in the middle of reading it but having a hard time because it is so uncomfortable. Just trying to recalibrate my mindset before jumping back in and powering through

I disagree about Humbert being an "unreliable" narrator. On the contrary, I would say that he is a surprisingly honest narrator, he doesn't flinch from telling us about incidents and scenes that portray him in the worst light. He also often admits his depravity and claims to suffer from guilt at his debauchery in moments of transient moral self-awareness. And, we are left in no doubt about Humbert's internal justifications for his pedaphilic actions and the thoughts, desires, obsessions and fantasies that drive his despicable crime. Humbert never tries to fool us into thinking that he has ever considered, even for one second, what is best for Dolores or that he ever treats her as a human being, let alone a highly vulnerable child. Humbert's narration never gives us the slightest glimpse of Dolores as a person, she is openly portrayed in the text solely as an object for his personal sexual gratification. Is Humbert's testimony naive or a reflection of his sociopathic personality that is unable to show empathy for others? I don't think he hides anything, aside from avoiding any exaggeratedly salacious or graphic details of his sexual assaults on Dolores - the description of Humbert's initial masturbatory experience with Dolores' legs on his lap and subsequent rapes are elegantly handled by Nabokov. Humbert's paedophiliac mind convinces him by delusion that his actions are morally acceptable, understandable and excusable, and that society's rejection of his obsessive sexual compulsions are unreasonable. His delusion is apparent to the point of suggesting that "his Lolita" instigated the seduction of him - this is not unreliable narration, it is the truth as his perverted mind, or more accurately perhaps, his memory, perceives and assimilates it. He is not persuading us to believe something that he believes to be untrue. I totally agree with your asessment of Nabokov's writing. Such mastery of language, constantly playful, challenging, insightful, erudite, inspiring, he really was a writer of immense talent, and in his second language too. As a reader, I would suggest he has no better in the construction of luxurious, ornate, engaging and satisfying writing.

That's a shame because although it is about dogs or wolves they both are excellent stories. Good ones to read in fall or winter. Lord of the flies is a must read for every single person!! It would be really cool if book tubers would hold the book straight and not hold them on their sides and then wiggle it all over the place....very Frustrating

How exciting to get your work underway.... Good Luck with your grant proposal, I can't imagine how much work that will be

A long time ago I did a search for Emily Dickinson on KZfaq. One of the suggestions was a video by you and I've been following ever since! I can't seem to find that particular video so maybe you took it down; anyway, I'm so happy you like Emily Dickinson. When I first read her poetry it stymied me but now it speaks to my soul!

Hi Valerie! It’s exciting to see you plunge into your graduate project. I will be keen to hear your comments on the books discussed in the video after you've read them. Comparing Dickinson and Whitman, poets of the mid-nineteenth century would cause one to say they were total opposites, whose length and style of verse differed; however, many of their poems had similar subjects. It’s exciting to follow you to grad school and wait for the next update!

I absolutely love hunting for used books too! The deals always get to me 😂 Good luck with your grant application!

I firmly believe that "I Am Nobody" was a direct response to "Song of Myself," but my American lit professor got kind of mad at me when I suggested it. But seriously. Dickinson mentioned Whitman in a negative way around the time she wrote that poem, and she'd had access to "Song of Myself" even though she didn't say specifically that she'd read it. She was totally snarking off at his self-absorption by proudly proclaiming her lack of it. I will die on this hill! 😂

I've never heard of The White Tiger. Edward Said sounds fascinating. Thanks.

Valerie, this video is a morale booster! When you mentioned John Milton’s punctuation I instantly thought of Dickinson’s unconventional style of marks and intervals. Your discovery of a passion for Chicano literature and a desire to teach it is exciting! Venturing into a lightly touched discipline of academia will be challenging and rewarding. The excitement you have for this new direction is contagious and a joy to behold. God bless this new pathway you’ve decided to walk down.

Best wishes from India 🇮🇳 ❤.

Good luck with school..always go forward ...continue greatness and have fun ...

Borderlands looks interesting, I'm going to check it out. I wish there were more classic works from other countries/languages being translated. When I decided to travel to Honduras, one of the first things I did to "prepare" was (of course, as an avid reader) search for the most well-known, classic Honduran works - but none of them had been translated into English. So I did still buy some books while I was there, and I do plan to read them eventually, but my Spanish just isn't there yet. I'm curious, is your grad program in-person or online?

my sr year was 84/85 and I would never assign a year with the same kind of books (they were similar to me) Beowulf, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Hamlet come to mind - was a rough year and I was one who LOVED reading. I've gone back to re-read some but at the time I just couldn't grasp all that horrible creepy stuff. I wasn't even ready for Antigone and Rome/Juliet in 9th grade. I did like MacBeth and The Great Gatsby I think the absolute BEST book I was ever assigned was my freshman year of college - My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok - still one of my favorite books along with the sequel The Gift of Asher Lev.

Congratulations Valerie! I'm so excited for you and can't wait to hear all about your new reading adventures in a brand new city!

Congratulations! I am excited for you! Please do keep us updated on your papers and the various literature rabbitholes your studies takes you down! Finals me would worry for my mental health if she knew I'd ever think this, BUT there is a part of me that misses academia 😅

Great video.

Congratulations!