The Clockwork Orange Technique

Reading Lolita in public is still a bit dramatic for me. I found myself folding the cover of the book so no one could see me reading it on the train this morning.

But what I'm noticing is that the subject matter is repugnant, as is the narrator, but the way that narrator talks about the subject matter is anything but repugnant. Which, I guess, is the point of the book.

A cluster of stars palely glowed above us, between the silhouettes of long thin leaves; that vibrant sky seemed as naked as she was under her light frock. I saw her face in the sky, strangely distinct as if it emitted a faint radiance of its own. [pg 15]

He takes you from the "cluster of stars" to "under her light frock." Yikes!

The poetic language isn't reserved for his first love, Annabel, who he's describing the passage above. He maintains that beatific language to describes his "degrading and dangerous desires"[pg24].

He's poetic observations are what brings you into his perverted world.

"Her hips were no bigger than those of a squatting lad; in fact, I do not hesitate to say (and indeed this is the reason why I linger gratefully in that gauze-gray room of memory with little Monique) that among the eight or so prostitutes* I had operate upon me, she was the only one that gave me a pang of genuine pleasure. 'The man who invented this trick was a smart one**,' she commented amiably, and got back into her clothes with the same high-style speed.

I asked for another, more elaborate , assignment later the same evening..."[pg22]

*=Nabokov, who spoke several different languages, keeps infusing French words into the story. Not sure why, but my book, thankfully, has translations. Instead of "prostitute," Nabokov used the French word "grues."

**=Translated from French.

He calls refers to it as "an assignment" and skips over any obvious detail of their encounter, which would remind the reader that they're reading something which, in real life, would disgust them.

It's sort of the technique used in A Clockwork Orange. Most of the deranged, offensive stuff done by the main character there, is filmed in a long shot - literally, distancing the audience from what they're seeing. Topped with some orchestral music, and you got yourself a recipe to accept almost anything.

Reading Lolita on the Train; Uncomfortable

Lolita is alarming, no matter where you read it.

Reading it on a crowded train only adds to the discomfort.

Imagine, a train packed with seemingly respectable, tired people trekking home from work, and trying to read this passage:

"A normal man given a group photograph of school girls or Girl Scouts and asked to point out the comeliest one will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them. You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine (oh, how you have to cringe and hide!), in order to discern at one, by ineffable signs - the slightly feline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices which despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate - the little deadly demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power." [pg17]

Nabokov explains the obsession is rooted is the loss of a lover the main character had when he was young. But "the ache remained with me, and that little girl with her seaside limbs and ardent tongue haunted me ever since - until at last, twenty-four years later, I broke her spell by incarnating her in another." [pg15].

Great. He ruins my train ride home, the purity of childhood, and even reincarnation.

New Book: Lolita

Thanks to a certain reader (okay, this site's only reader for the moment), the next book on the list is Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov.

I'm expecting it to be a thick, academic read, nothing like the breezy, quick-to-cinema novels like The Beach or Fight Club.

So, to help myself out, I'll be reading the annotated Lolita. That'll either provide much needed clarification, or extra stuff that'll fly over my head and feel like homework.

Also, what would a new tradition be without an early exception. I'm heading out of town for a wedding, so I'll be skipping the first Saturday coffee.

But think of it this way...

Extra time to read Nabokov everybody!

Nabokov and Rap

The Nabokov fan emailed me to explain that he's the only author she reads "Because he does things with language that I cannot explain."

Which is the reason I love rap music. How real emcees do things with language I never thought of. So, in that spirit, here's a song featuring Frank Sinatra (a singer with Nabokov-esque stature, and the Norotious B.I.G..


update: One more song becuase, well, why not?


update II: Sinatra and Biggie, never enough.

Book Club Fever!

Excitement over the club is growing. Here's what one person emailed to say:

I only do Nabokov. Love your idea though

So metropolitan. So picky. Oh New York.