Forgetting Lolita: How Nabokov's Victim Became an American Fantasy

New Republic ^ | 5/28/2015 | Ira Wells

[Borges]

In January of 1959, the 600 residents of Lolita, Texas, found themselves in the midst of an improbable identity crisis. The town had been named in 1909 for Lolita Reese, the granddaughter of a Texas patriot. But following the U.S. publication of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel in 1958, “Lolita” had suddenly acquired a whole new set of connotations.

“The people in this town are god-fearing, church going, and we resent the fact our town has been tied in with the title of a dirty, sex-filled book that tells the nasty story of a middle-aged man’s love affair with a very young girl.” So read a petition circulated by R. T. Walker, deacon of the local First Baptist Church, who hoped to change the town’s name from Lolita to Jackson. In the end, however, the proud citizens of Lolita decided to hunker down and wait out the storm: As the Texas historian Fred Tarpley put it, “Lolita was retained with the hope that the novel and the [upcoming] film would soon be forgotten."

In fairness to the good people of Lolita, nobody in 1959 could have predicted what the future had in store for Lolita. In the ensuing decades, Nabokov’s novel spawned two films, musical adaptations, ballets, stage adaptations (including one legendarily disastrous Edward Albee–directed production starring Donald Sutherland as Humbert Humbert), a Russian-language opera, spin-off novels, bizarre fashion subcultures, and memorabilia that runs the gamut from kitschy to creepy: from heart-shaped sunglasses to anatomically precise blow-up dolls. With the possible exception of Gatsby, no twentieth-century American literary character penetrated the public consciousness quite like Lolita. Her very name entered the language as a common noun: “a precociously seductive girl,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

[Borges]

How about CCR’s ‘Fortunate Son’? I saw it used in a Jeans commercial as an All American anthem. Just the opening lines of course. Did they listen to the entire song?

[FreedomPoster]

Actually, that was a pretty legitimate gripe. I would argue that we would have a lot fewer problems today without the college exemption from the draft. Leftist hid out in the colleges and took over academe.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— Look how many people still think “Born in the USA” is one of the most patriotic songs ever. -—

There’s no irony in the album cover. Bruce used the flag and his butt to sell albums. So Reagan and America exacted justice.

It’s a great album, regardless.

[Borges]

It was very shrewdly calculated to sell a ton. He saw the musical and cultural atmosphere in the early to mid 80s and marketed himself accordingly. In 1979 or so, the idea of a Springsteen record with synthesizers would have been laughed off as absurd by both him and his fans.

[discostu]

I wouldn’t say they exacted justice. I would say they didn’t bother to listen to the words. Bruce won that exchange, he went from a respected mildly successful artist to a mega millionaire with a massive string of hits. AND he’s still highly respected, not many guys get to make the transition to mega-star without selling out.

[j.argese]

You could have replied just fine WITHOUT the Capote quote. Well, I’ll think of it positively, as in that “In Cold Blood” thing and not that lisping, dwarf queen catfighting with Gore Vidal.