[Borges]

Trilling's comment is relevant to how fiction works in general. Crime and Punishment, Psycho, The Godfather.

[9thLife]

“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.”

And this is praiseworthy?

[colorcountry]

Ping to the Binger.

[dfwgator]

That book by Nabokov.

[golux]

“The only believable love story ever written.”

[GeronL]

I am not reading a book about a pedophile

[Cowboy Bob]

All I can say is that I hope “Catcher in the Rye” didn’t make the list. (or even the list of the 1000 best novels)

[tophat9000]

Triumph of the Will is art
Birth of a Nation is art

But does being art also prevent challenging with their statement as also being corrupt propaganda?

[ifinnegan]

Anyone interested in this thread should read this long article by Sarah Weinman.

http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/hazlitt/longreads/real-lolita

It’s called the real Lolita.

[Sans-Culotte]

I have never read Lolita, but more than once have had it recommended to me. I have only seen the Kubrick film. I don't think I could ever get past the creepiness of the story enough to actually read the novel. The film is one of my least favorite of Kubrick's.

[safeasthebanks]

Similar to the experience of viewers of the TV series “Breaking Bad” (in my opinion).