Posted on 02/23/2015 9:41:24 AM PST by Borges
One of Lolita’s first supporters, the great critic Lionel Trilling, addressed what is perhaps a central issue at the heart of this controversial novel, when he warned of the moral difficulty in interpreting a book with such an eloquent narrator: “We find ourselves the more shocked when we realize that, in the course of reading the novel, we have come virtually to condone the violation it presents… We have been seduced into conniving in the violation, because we have permitted our fantasies to accept what we know to be revolting.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I gather that. But not from the accolade in the opening paragraph of the post.
He was making the same point.
Not to someone who doesn’t know the end of the story. He was selling the sizzle.
He was conveying what makes this particular work so disturbing.
If you find it soothing it’s only because you’ve become accustomed to it. Mozart and Beethoven were challenging and heard the right way they still are.
Would you have a problem reading a book about a murderer?
The idea that art is “a challenge” is a new concept in the history of art. Now it’s practically the only accepted way to present art! And yet the theater world that I am a part of only presents a point of view that matches the status quo.
“If Art reiterates cliches it’s not good art.”
I agree, except even using cliches can be used to make art.
But your comment reflects tour second sentence, not the first about it’s purpose being to challenge.
What am I talking about?
It’s you and Trilling rubbing your little chubbies together: “We have been seduced into conniving in the violation, because we have permitted our fantasies to accept what we know to be revolting.”
I know the book and, sorry, it doesn’t do it for me as a personal or intellectual challenge or a turn-on either.
Neither does it enrage me or, frankly, interest me all that much.
What I find tiresome are these little arts-n-fartsy peek-a-boo sessions you like to stage, apparently hoping to get a rise out of the rabble, so to speak, while doing your own silly star turn rather after the fashion of Humbert himself.
Point taken.
Wow that was an amazing read. Thanks for the link.
LOL I love talking about the books/movies I love talking about. Just the same as anyone else. The high intelligence of the average Freeper makes this a great place to talk about them. Have you noticed that Chat is filled with topics like these?
That’s a great piece.
You’re welcome.
It really was an amazing read.
Borges, if you haven’t read that piece I linked to earlier in the thread, called The Real Lolita, you ought to.
It will change your perception of the book, dare I say challenge it.
I guess my last post to you is moot.
I’ve enjoyed talking to you about movies in the past.
I don’t always have the time to do it too much (and perhaps not the inclination to go too far in to it).
The fact that something of the sort took place doesn’t really change the nature of the novel. It functions as a sad historical curiosity.
Art can challenge, but that is not the purpose of art.
Seeing the world in a different way is inherently challenging. Even if it’s pleasurable.
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