Why AP?

In this final section of Lolita, we finally see what crime Humbert commits and get some, albeit very minimal, closure to the conflict that ensued during the novel.

To summarize as briefly as possible, Lolita escapes Humbert with a man named Clare Quilty who is also a pervert and asks her to do "crazy...filthy things" (pg 277). Humbert doesn't know this is going on, however, and searches for Lolita until he gives up and finds comfort by being with a woman named Rita until he receives a letter from Lolita asking for money. Like most other relationships and events in Humbert's life that don't have Lolita in them, this part is described very briefly, showing how unimportant it, and Rita, was to him.

Lolita sends Humbert a letter three years after escaping him saying that she's pregnant and married and asks for money to pay off some debt. Humbert then tracks her and her husband down and most likely intends on killing her husband until he meets him and feels, "No grudge. Funny--no grudge at all, nothing except grief and nausea" (pg 274).

After talking with Lolita and asking her to explain all that happened after she escaped, he realizes how awfully he treated her and how he robbed her of her childhood and feels greatly ashamed. He imagines her saying, "you merely broke my life" (pg 279). He realizes that his lust for her deprived her of a childhood and that despite his extensive love for her, she never loved him back.

Despite her older appearance and even pregnant stomach, he realizes that he still loves her as much as he did when she was a young girl. He realizes that he never got to love the real person beneath the body he was so lustful towards and that he didn't love her for who she really was as a person.

After realizing this and understanding that Lolita will never come live with him despite all his begging, he leaves to go track down Clare Quilty for mistreating Lolita (which is somewhat ironic but leads to a big theme) and ends up shooting and killing him and ultimately being arrested for driving through red lights and on the wrong side of the road as he leaves his house.

There is much revealed in this section about themes and conclusions that we come to about Humbert, but I will leave all of that until the next blog post. I planned instead to discuss why this book is of merit for an AP literature class.

Simply put, this is the most beautifully written book I have ever read. I simply enjoyed reading it and was inspired and in awe of Nabokov's exquisite writing. The only other author that I think I enjoyed as much regarding how well the writing itself was is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

It's hard to even explain why the writing in this novel is so good to someone who hasn't read it before; I think it's something that people just have to experience firsthand. Regardless, I will say that despite the disturbing nature of the plot and topics written about, I am glad that I read it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Probably the main reason that this book is so renowned and influential is because of the admirable writing. Otherwise, no one would want to read about the awful topics presented in the novel. The beautiful prose of the novel is what makes it so interesting to read, and the writing techniques, style, and devices employed are arguably unrivaled by any other authors.

In addition to just being captivating, insanely well-written, and accessible to analyze, the novel is certainly challenging enough for an AP level course. Not only are there many hidden insights and understandings embedded in the novel that require a keen eye to understand, but the vocabulary is simply incredible.

Just to give an example for those who didn't read the novel, on one page that I picked at random in the section I was reading, Nabokov uses the words, "sinuous", "amnesic", "peevishly", "gyrations", "splendid", "benevolent", "perceptual", "venture", "culmination", "arbor", "vegetated", "indecorously", "grenadine", "throes", "autumnal", and "purloined".

I won't even pretend that I know what most of those words mean nor that I looked up most of the words in this book, although I'd love to say that I did. One must have a strong vocabulary in order to read this book or at least be able to decipher what Nabokov means through context. It's extremely difficult prose and it takes an astute reader to understand it.

In addition to the vocabulary, the style of the book is extremely difficult because it is very complex. With shifting passage of time, long, drawn out sentences with very little dialogue, and complex ideas and themes, it is not something that you can read without thinking hard about.

It also takes a mature audience to not be disturbed or react immaturely to the content in the novel, which is part of why I would not add it to the curriculum of this course as some may not be capable of handling it. I often struggled with the disturbing nature of the plot and it even made me nauseous at many times.

Despite this, I would recommend the book strongly. I think that in addition to the beautiful writing of Vladimir Nabokov, the points and moral questions it raises are fascinating. For those looking for a challenging read with important philosophical questions and interesting construction of a novel, I would definitely recommend this book, just maybe not as a required read for the whole class.