As Trilling alludes to here, it's interesting how the progression of depictions of old man/young girl love throughout literary history contain some of the best encapsulations of any given era's mindset: in medieval court romances, a knight saving a 'damsel in distress' was the peak of idealist themes. In Romeo & Juliet, the age difference isn't even a relevant plot point, it's just taken for granted. In Ibsen's "The Master Builder" it's more taboo, yet still seems to represent some form of idyllic, albeit ultimately tragic, idealism. Whereas in Lolita, it's become almost the epitome of evil and is deemed scandalous obscenity. Meanwhile, a song like "Going Blind" by KISS (in contrast to "Aqualung") seems to invert this theme, so that the old man almost becomes a pathetic victim.
@tarico4436Ай бұрын
Stephen King actually unalived hundreds of people, that's why he writes so realistically about unaliving people. Instead of discussing Nab's book, let's talk about how I was touched when I was a child. My story is soooo much more important than anything else in this comment section.
@tarico4436Ай бұрын
Stephen King actually unalived hundreds of people, that's why he writes so realistically about unaliving people. Instead of discussing Nab's book, let's talk about how I was touched when I was a child. My story is soooo much more important than anything else in this comment section.
@jerin70782 ай бұрын
Is that Lionel Trilling? 😳
@restlessdream87453 ай бұрын
3:28 I guess this good reader was Vera.
@galinakhotinskaya17684 ай бұрын
Какой красивый английский у Набокова. Гений❤
@sue.F4 ай бұрын
Lionel Trilling who mistook this work as a love story, totally missing the overwhelming kill count, gets more than one sideways look of suspicion from Nabokov.
@sue.F4 ай бұрын
“The sob in the spine” Nabokov was a genius.
@TaxingIsThieving4 ай бұрын
A touch of the Philip Larkin about him
@theirrationalman37825 ай бұрын
Why do they get up and switch tables mid-conversation?
@billlane8926 ай бұрын
Am curious whether anyone recalls Lionel Trilling out of Columbia U ?? Given writers' general disdain for critics, it is telling of Trilling's stature that VN sits on par with him… btw On SoundCloud fans can listen to Nabokov reading the final scene with Quilty and it's quite a sendup of that "semi-animated subhuman trickster" You'll never be able to hear the audiobook reading by Jeremy Irons without a longing that it were VN speaking.
@starlightbright7 ай бұрын
I thought he was speaking Russian and turned on the subtitles 😔
@ivan55958 ай бұрын
Creator dad was killed by Sergey Taboritsky
@msrhuby8 ай бұрын
Professor Hamamoto sent me.
@ivankaedinger36319 ай бұрын
Genius. I've read many other books he wrote and they are masterpieces specially Pale fire and Camera obscura (Laughter in the dark).
@krips229 ай бұрын
The core of Nabokov's Lolita explained here: lolitasriddle.blogspot.com
@tryharder7510 ай бұрын
such an honest chat about the best novel of the 20th century
@chrisgrubisa381911 ай бұрын
Yes 🤟🤟🤟🤟
@charold3 Жыл бұрын
The other guy is Lionel Trilling, an important critic.
@wheelerking8380 Жыл бұрын
Why does he sound European and not Russian
@Tolstoy11112 күн бұрын
He left Russia as a teenager - never to return.
@AbdullahShrugged Жыл бұрын
Fascinating to see Nabokov on video, this is exactly what I imagined the character of such a degenerate writer would be; weak, evasive, amoralist. As I predicted, he's so careful to dissociate morality from his art because he senses in his deep psychological convictions that judging his work morally will destroy him, and the reason of his so called success is because millions of his fans have the exact same tendency, only an amoralist moderate will think you can escape from moral choices, and that writing such a story is beyond good and evil.
@adig2414Ай бұрын
So what you're saying is Nabokov overestimated his audience. Literature is wasted on the likes of you.
@paulrosa6173 Жыл бұрын
I wonder what Nabokov would have made of the tabloid obsession with Jon Bennet Ramsey? I think she was even younger than Lolita and seems to reappear every few years in the supermarket checkout racks. How long has that little girl been dead? She is more famous dead than she ever was alive and I can never understand why? I can never understand how mothers will try to make their very young children imitate the style of much older women. I've never seen one but maybe those beauty pageants are a thing of the past by now? Never read the book but recently watched Kubrick's movie. It wasn't at all judgemental as far as I could tell. Sex and violence are closely associated in the brain and love can encapsulate both. Isn't that Nabokov's point?
@aleshkaemelyanov Жыл бұрын
Армянин и славянка . 😊😊😊😊😊 Я не имею средств наличных, машин, костюмов и домов, хотя мой вид вполне приличный, прочёл три дюжины томов. Я полон сотнями стараний, сплетеньем мыслей и острот, исканьем между осознаний и кладом внутренних красот. Я меховой, как пёс безродный, разумный, тёплый и простой, и справедливый, беспородный с татуированной средой. Так вот позвольте, мисс благая, без роз, колье, богатств иных, средь рестораций, улиц мая Вас пригласить в мир грёз моих!
@misterman3379 Жыл бұрын
It’s definitely at least a little about sex. Lol.
@misterman3379 Жыл бұрын
Lol they’re so pretentious
@Tolstoy111 Жыл бұрын
Any casual erudition is pretentious? Ever read Lolita? Nabokov was enormously literate.
@uvaldopalomares8416 Жыл бұрын
Check his hard drives.
@Pete902 Жыл бұрын
id vote for you
@nobodysXghost Жыл бұрын
it honestly pains me to see these three men talk about this obvious story of a man gone insane with lust for a child that can't consent, and label it 'love' and dance around the glaring point of paedophilia. but i realize in their broad comparisons to ahab and the whale as 'love' they are equating love with passion and in these days love was a term not used as specifically. they didn't think it necessary to point out the obvious to save themselves from cancellation. and any book written about sexual matters was scrutinized first for the sexual tone, not for who and how the sexualization takes place. but this was a time that was intentionally unaware of the pandemic of child sexual abuse. and this book unbeknowingly created a shift in our awareness.
@cappy2282 Жыл бұрын
Vladimir was a genius. Both Lolita and Pale Fire are masterpieces. Good stuff 👌
@katlamb4606 Жыл бұрын
I love how real and genuinely engaged these reviewers are. You don't see that in modern times.
@bellaadamowicz8380 Жыл бұрын
Political correctness destroyed intellectual discussion. We live the an era of Inquisition
@allyb3510 Жыл бұрын
People need to stop trying to dress this book up, it's about a pedophile.
@clownmax5147 Жыл бұрын
Moron
@Tolstoy111 Жыл бұрын
Macbeth is about a murderer. Stop praising that too?
@Manx123 Жыл бұрын
Critics then relied on sensationalist, shallow opinions.
@Tolstoy111 Жыл бұрын
Trilling was shallow? He's one of the all time greats.
@Manx123 Жыл бұрын
@@Tolstoy111 Well, what little I heard here little inmpressed me.
@Tolstoy111 Жыл бұрын
@@Manx123 This was scripted drama. His written criticism is classic.
@Manx123 Жыл бұрын
@@Tolstoy111 Okay, fair. I was basing my judgment on what I saw here.
@MrLChurchill Жыл бұрын
Trilling is also a good writer: The Middle of the Journey I enjoyed very much.
@dmitriduquette6110 Жыл бұрын
I had no videos of this concert, I was there to the right. My father brought me there. I had to look up videos to remind me of the good times we had, I miss him so much.
@jadefields52462 жыл бұрын
"This is not a love story. This is a horror novel." Ditto for eroticism.
@thomasmclaughlin25682 жыл бұрын
Like a message from another world. No conversation like this could possibly happen in our time, for better or worse.
@ethanwilde29473 ай бұрын
Why not?
@wmcrosbyesq2 жыл бұрын
One of Nabokov's first languages was English, learned as a child in St. Petersburg according to his memoir, Speak, Memory. He also obtained his degree at Cambridge University. Nabokov might have had an idiosyncratic way of speaking but it didn't in anyway mean that he spoke in "broken English."
@castelodeossos3947 Жыл бұрын
Having English as one of one's first languages does not necessarily mean it is Standard English. Have met people from former British colonies in Asia who learned English as children but their English is by no means Standard English. Singaporean English, for example, is devoid of grammar because Chinese is devoid of grammar and they have a strong accent that comes from Chinese. There are also a number of English words they use with Chinese meanings. For example, a tangerine is called an orange because in Chinese both tangerines/oranges have the same word.
@cappy22822 жыл бұрын
...Nabokov was a straight beast!! People who call lolita "a love story" are retarded
@maks-pk6hj2 жыл бұрын
I agree
@leisurelylisa64272 жыл бұрын
Interesting
@lesliegordon23132 жыл бұрын
Probably the most beautifully written book I have ever read.
@jacobtaylor28506 күн бұрын
I haven’t read the book yet, but clearly by the fact that I’m here, my curiosity is obviously growing. What made it the most beautifully written book to your estimation?
@lesliegordon23136 күн бұрын
@@jacobtaylor2850 Nabokov has said that it was an experiment with the English language and all it's possibilities. He was taught English by a governess. I picked the book up (a battered Corgi paperback) from a second-hand shop. I read the first two paragraphs and was hooked. Nabokov doesn't miss a trick with the prose. It's exquisite, brutal, tender and erotic. Of course, the subject is taboo, but there is not one sentence which is sordid and filthy. We read the story of a man and his obsession (a girl who reminds him of his childhood sweetheart who died young). It's subtle, funny, sad. Humbert's frustration and paranoia pervade the tale with a lyricism which Nabokov excells at. When asked, the author actually believed that love could exist this way. He certainly demonstrated this without resorting to filth. Enjoy, my friend. Thank you for your reply.
@410smokeshop62 жыл бұрын
thank you for cutting out the host!
@ellie6982 жыл бұрын
Trilling concerns me. And Nabokov looks very uncomfortable with what trilling was saying.
@ReemTahir2 жыл бұрын
"the story of a middle-aged man and a 12-year-old girl and their love affair" lol. This book may be beautifully written, but it's not a love affair, it's a story about a tyrannical pedophile who seduces the reader with his pretty prose into forgetting that he an abuser taking advantage of an orphan. I mean, why does Dolores cry every night when she's with him and why does Humbert feel guilt sometimes?
@nathanieldeclarador14662 жыл бұрын
“Users of covers and cozies; ready made souls in plastic bags. Negligible generalities…” “Uhhh… Nabokov; wtf are you talking about?…”
@sooneatyOrchids2 жыл бұрын
Appalling to see three men gloss over the sexual abuse and cruelty to a 12 year old girl, and talk like spectators. Never mind art, the soul is corrupt here.
@Tolstoy111 Жыл бұрын
It's a novel. It isn't real. It isn't merely about pedophillia.
@gorkajames64752 жыл бұрын
“I would never do that I’m an entomologist!” Hilarious defense against the notion that you’re outing yourself as a rapist pedophile.
@Tolstoy111 Жыл бұрын
You think writing a novel about a character means that you are that character?
@nathanieldeclarador14662 жыл бұрын
2:13 Can someone tell me the reason why Nabokov moved from his position into another? Very intriguing…
@stylincarrie12 жыл бұрын
2:10 So Nabokov just gets up and moves to the couch. C'mon boys, let's get cozy on the setee. Staging for tv shows was still in it's infancy. Newscasters in the early 50s used to get up, walk around, sit on the front desk and use pointers on maps all while reading the news.
@ningombamcaptain31002 жыл бұрын
4:24 "If sex is the sermon made of art, love is the lady of that tower."
@jadefields52462 жыл бұрын
If sex is the serving maid of art, love is the lady of that tower.